Learning and Losing
by Chesra Talasei
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening…
1. Incidental Meetings

**Learning and Losing**  
  
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...   
  
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.  
  
** $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Chapter One: Incidental Meetings  
  
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Ryou Bakura was walking to the music room to have his violin lesson. He was happily listening to his head, whispering a familiar song when he noticed a soccer practice going on.  
  
"Hey, Bakura! Kick!" he heard someone yelled. At the sound of his name, he turned around. Then he realized they were referring to some boy who startlingly looked liked him, who was incidentally playing soccer.  
  
He rolled his eyes. A _Jock_. Typical. Snickering to himself softly, he whistled a soft tune as he continued walking toward the music room.  
  
A loud cheer brought him back to the take a second look at the soccer field. The boy had managed to make a score. The cheerleaders were obviously going crazy...and his fangirls were drooling in the background.  
  
The certain boy we were talking about was currently smirking and waving to his crazy fans. At that moment, another boy kicked a ball toward him—Ryou prayed it would hit him in the face—and he, obviously surprised at the sudden kick, was only able to kick it only half-seriously—which resulted into to the ball hitting the post—hard.  
  
Ryou watched the ball sail through the air in awe. Then he realized—a second too late, I might add—that the certain ball was heading for him. Literally.  
  
WHAM!  
  
Ryou could almost see the stars encircling his head.  
  
$$$  
  
Bakura winced as the soccer ball hit a kid. He pointed to it and shouted, "I'll get it!"  
  
He quickly ran up to the kid.  
  
And blinked.  
  
The kid looked exactly like him.  
  
He couldn't help but smirk. What, he had guy worshippers now?  
  
The said kid was now sitting up, groaning and rubbing his head. "Stupid soccer ball, stupid kick, stupid Jock, stupid stupid supid," he muttered half-consciously.  
  
Bakura blinked at his mutterings, then went to collect the soccer ball. Then he knelt next to the boy. "You okay? Sorry 'bout that."  
  
The kid gave him a sarcastic glare. (Um...OOC here...) "Oh no, I wasn't hurt at all," he said sarcastically. "Watch where you kick next time." At that moment the boy smiled sincerely. "But nice shot...if it had gone in, your fans would have gone wild again."  
  
Bakura smiled back. "I'm really sorry." He was really gagging inside—he hated being polite. More so apologizing. But obviously the kid was a geek, a nerd, a—  
  
His eyes widened when something clicked. Kid looked exactly like him.  
  
An Outkast.  
  
Oh.  
  
"You know, you shouldn't walk by the soccer field next time," he chided, his eyes dark. Outkasts knew better than doing that. "I mean...you're a..." he stopped to think of a more polite word, "...unique person." The boy narrowed his eyes. "I'm just saying 'your people' don't walk by here normally."  
  
The boy glared at him. "So what are saying? Just because I'm a nerd or a geek doesn't mean I can't walk by here! I'm a student in this school, for Ra's sake! How _Jock_ can you get?!? Figures, though, people like you are so into discrimination!" The boy yelled. Then he clamped his hand into his mouth. He gave Bakura a warning glare, then stomped away, looking furious.  
  
Leaving Bakura scratching his head and wondering, for the life of him, what was wrong with _that_ kid.  
  
Then his eyes widened. "Shoot! I forgot to ask his name!"  
  
$$$  
  
Marik Ishtar glared at the computer for the umpteenth time. "Damn you! Work, will ya!" He hit the keyboard hard; almost like punching the monitor in his frustration. He was missing soccer practice for this damn piece of crap—why couldn't teachers just accept xerox copies like before?  
  
"Don't do that!"  
  
Marik turned to see where the voice came from—geek, no doubt—no one else would care about computers like that—and saw a boy with his blonde hair and his amethyst eyes. He blinked; mirror image? The kid looked exactly like him—only a little more...uh...un-freakish-looking.  
  
The boy continued to glare at him. "Honestly, we've got enough defective computers already—it won't help ruining this one too." The boy shook his head and grabbed a random chair, then settled it next to Marik's chair. He watched, fascinated, as the boy began typing a few things in the computer.  
  
"Keyboard's jammed, computer's hanged," he announced after a few minutes. "You're damn lucky I'm still here—all other computers are either shut down already, or for special use." The boy quickly closed the computer, then he stood up and indicated Marik to follow.  
  
Marik raised his eyebrow but followed him to a room with a sign AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.  
  
He turned to look at the boy, halfway torn between amusement and anxiety. "Hey, I'm in enough trouble already. This homework's already costing me my soccer practice...."  
  
The boy snorted. "I wouldn't go here if I wasn't allowed, you dolt, that's more like you," he said, rolling his eyes. "Get in, or do you intend to get frustrated by battling a ruined computer? I'll fix it tomorrow, when I have what I need. You can use my computer at the meantime." He held out his hand.  
  
Marik blinked. "What?"  
  
The boy shook his head in exasperation, hand still held out. "Your back-up disk!" Then his eyebrows shot up. "Don't tell me you didn't make back-up!"  
  
Marik shook his head. "No. It's not like I got too far, anyway."  
  
"Geez. That is soo _Jock_."  
  
Marik blinked at the insult. The kid was weird. Normal geeks and nerd didn't put down popular people like him. They just avoided him and stammered when he was around.  
  
Then his eyes widened at a thought. Could this be—  
  
"Are you going to gape there like an idiot for the rest of the hour?" the boy snapped, hands on his hips.  
  
—An Outkast?  
  
The boy sighed. "Typical." He gestured to his computer. "Feel free to start again what you were doing—just don't wreck my computer, it's only the best computer there is here." He rolled his eyes again. "Here's a spare disk—you can keep it. Once you're done, save, exit the program, take out the disk, then get it printed in some shop. Happy? Oh yeah, and tip: always save." He smirked. "Any idiot would know that. Do I need to give you step- by-step instructions?"  
  
Marik shook his head, still awed that this could be an Outkast. Before he could ponder anymore, the boy slipped a diskette into his hands and left the room.  
  
Marik blinked. If that was an Outkast, he was quite shocked at how weird he acted. He definitely didn't go by normal high school discrimination.  
  
Then his eyes widened. "I forgot to ask his name!"  
  
$$$  
  
Yugi Motou was on his way home, and it was getting a little dark. He chuckled to himself. Knowing his friends, Malik Ishtar and Ryou Bakura, Malik would be home by now, on the internet, computering as if for his life. As for Ryou, he would probably be at school, finishing his violin lessons.  
  
He sighed. It was a very normal day for him. Luckily, no one picked on him anymore—once he and his friends got dubbed as 'Outkasts,' everyone at school avoided him or snubbed him.  
  
He sighed again. The three of them were considered Outkasts because they were different from everybody else. There were two kinds of people in high school—popular or geek. If you're not popular, then you're most likely a geek.  
  
He and his friends were a little different.  
  
They were popular, but for wrong reasons.  
  
Normal popular people were popular because they were jocks, cheerleaders, rebels...those type of people, the ones who didn't even knew how to even turn on a computer. Normal geeks were studious, scaredy-cats, and weirdos....the type of people who were wallflowers and would never try to step out.  
  
He knew as well anyone that he and his friends could never be considered geeks. They were each famous for their own certain thing.  
  
Ryou was gifted with much musical talent; he could literally play any musical instrument created (though he excelled in the violin the most) and he had the most beautiful voice in their entire school, possibly the entire Japan. He had joined many competitions internationally, and had won in all of them; not always first, but he still won.  
  
Malik, on the other hand, was a computer freak. He could do anything that had to do something with a computer blindfolded and one hand tied behind his back—they had tried it and he was able to do it—and he was also a blackbelt owner. Anyone stupid enough to mess with him gets a cracked skull—Malik had very violent tendencies. Like Ryou, he had joined international competitions, and won in all of them.  
  
And him...he was gifted in writing, he supposed. He could write anything—poems, stories, essays, basically anything. One time he had been dared to write everything in their school paper—he was able to keep it up for one week before the newspaper club decided that they had proved their point—and he, like his friends, won in all the competitions he had joined in.  
  
In the three friends, Malik was the one with the most fighting spirit—he and Ryou fitted the geek description of scaredy-cats. However, all three of them were studious; they were considered the top three of the school.  
  
It wasn't like both the geeks and the populars didn't want them in their clique—they did. The geeks worshipped them—they had been the only one to stand up and make a difference—and the populars were no doubt impressed by them.  
  
They, however, didn't want to join a clique; they had abilities in both groups, and didn't mix with any of them. Popular people were idiots, completely vain and sure of themselves; geeks were weaklings and completely unable to express themselves. So the geeks worshipped them but never associated with them, and the populars snubbed them.  
  
Typical.  
  
Not like Yugi minded—he found not having to worry about the social ladder quite comforting—but still. Only hanging around with two people could get boring sometimes. But at least he never had to worry about superficial friends—Ryou and Malik were anything but superficial.  
  
They had only gotten dubbed 'Outkasts' when some kid pointed out that they looked exactly like the three most popular and most wanted guys in the entire school, and said they were like outcasts. The popular people started calling them out the Outkasts, and soon everyone did.  
  
Furious, Malik traced down _'the kid idiotic enough to associate him with airheads'_ and promptly took care of him. Ever since no one tried to call them Outkasts—at least not in front of their face, but Yugi knew people still called him that.  
  
He sighed. No one even bothered knowing his name anymore—he was considered an Outkast, that was that.  
  
He also noticed that nowadays he and Ryou were getting braver—thanks to Malik, he supposed—and could now stand a fight. Before they would always get beaten up—this was when they refused to join in those activities the popular people thought were cool. He now avoided bullies at all costs; they were idiots, after all, but he could now hold his own fight.  
  
To sum it all up, geeks thought they were too cool to be geeks, and populars thought they were too uncool to be populars.  
  
They were literally in between.  
  
He sighed again. High school and prejudices.  
  
At that moment, the very worse thing happened.  
  
It started raining.  
  
Yugi glared at it. How could it rain now? Especially since he left his umbrella at school!  
  
Resigning himself to his fate, he used schoolbag to protect himself from the splattering raindrops, while trying not to get mud in his shoes.  
  
$$$  
  
"Then, the kid stomped away! Geez, Yami, what did I do?" Bakura complained to his friend, Yami Atemu. "Hey...Yami! Are you even listening to me?"  
  
"Yes, Bakura, but you've just told me that story seven times," Yami said, rolling his eyes. "Look, the kid was an Outkast, if he looked liked you. So why are you so hung up about it?"  
  
Bakura shrugged. "I guess it's because he acts so weird."  
  
Yami sighed. "Well, Joey and Seto are still in the arcade...still trying to one-up each other...weird relationship, those two. Tea and Mai are still in cheerleading practice...it's starting to rain, poor cheerleaders..." he smirked. "And Marik's still doing his homework...poor guy. So we can't head to Seto's right now...want to get some food before we go there?"  
  
Bakura snorted. "I guess. Stupid rain...it's just ruining my plans."  
  
"It'll stop raining soon," Yami reassured him. Then he blinked. "Is it me, or is a porcupine walking in the rain?"  
  
Bakura turned to look. He started laughing hysterically. "A wet porcupine, by the way." He kept laughing. "He looks a little like you, Yami, when you're wet."  
  
"I'm not that short," Yami retorted. Then his eyes widened.  
  
Bakura blinked. "What?"  
  
"Could it be an Outkast?"  
  
Bakura widened his eyes. "No way!" He shook his head. "Damn, twice in the day...God must hate me," he murmured. "Yami, turn on some music, will ya?"  
  
Yami stared, transfixed, at the small boy walking the rain, trying to block the rain with his schoolbag. "We should help the guy."  
  
Bakura snickered, laughing. "Have you gone insane, Yami? Help an Outkast? Are you trying to ruin your reputation?"  
  
"It's raining," Yami shot back. "Get a few manners, Bakura." Rolling his eyes, he drove up to the kid, and lowered his window.  
  
"Hey," he called out softly.  
  
The boy turned to look at him, and Yami found himself staring at the largest, most mesmerizing amethyst eyes he had ever since. He was left momentarily speechless.  
  
The boy looked a lot like him—only he was taller, and his eyes were a little smaller. Now, the boy was looking at him with an unreadable expression, his eyes expectant. "Yes?"  
  
Bakura snorted again—bringing Yami back to reality. "Um...it's raining."  
  
The boy smiled. "Yes. I know." His expression said, _pointing out the obvious, are we?_  
  
Bakura chuckled at the boy's comment. Yami nearly smacked himself. "I mean...would you like a ride? It is raining, you know."  
  
The boy's eyes widened. "That's nice of you, but I'm almost at my house."  
  
"Well, you can at least dry yourself...I've got towels in the car," he said softly. He opened the car door invitingly. The boy looked at it dubiously, but eventually he smiled and settled in the car with a squish sound.  
  
Bakura grudgingly handed him a towel.  
  
The boy accepted it, almost shyly.  
  
"My house...just take a left turn there. It's the white house on the right side," he said softly.  
  
Yami nodded and followed the boy's directions.  
  
After a few minutes of silence, Bakura went and opened the car radio. "Yami, I'm opening the radio," he announced, switching to a radio station with hip-hop music.  
  
He noticed the small boy wince a little. He raised his eyebrow, but soon Bakura was singing, completely off-tune, just to thwart him, so he was no longer able to ponder the kid's reaction.  
  
Yami glared at the albino boy. "Don't make me kill you," he said through gritted teeth. He could almost see Bakura smirking.  
  
"There!"  
  
Completely surprised, Yami pulled to an abrupt stop.  
  
The boy looked totally shocked as the car pulled to a stop.  
  
"Um...sorry...Bakura's singing put me off course," he said apologetically. Bakura glared at him. "Really sorry."  
  
The boy nodded. "Thank you." He left the towel and quickly clambered out the car. Before Yami could say anything else, the kid was in his house in a flash.  
  
Yami stared, almost longingly, at the door.  
  
Eventually, Bakura's snicker brought him back to earth.  
  
"Will you please stop acting like a sap?" Bakura snorted. "Don't tell me you like that Outkast!"  
  
Yami glared at him. "We're not even sure he's one." But he started the car and headed of to a near restaurant.  
  
"You're right," Bakura mused. "Maybe he was a geek."  
  
Yami rolled his eyes. "Whatever?"  
  
"But you were still acting like a lovesick puppy," Bakura said, chuckling. "Oh, be glad I'm the only who saw that...you'll be in a bad reputation if people hear."  
  
"I'm not the one put down by an Outkast," Yami retorted. "Now shut up."  
  
Then Yami shot up. "Damn! I forgot to ask his name!"  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Hmm...my first YGO fic...how'd it do? 


	2. Conversations

** Learning and Losing**  
  
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...   
  
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.  
  
**$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Chapter Two: Conversations  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
**  
Yugi ran up to his room as if there was a mad, deranged, insane killer after him. His grandfather shook his head. "Always excited, that Yugi."  
  
Once he reached his room, he shut the door, panting. He hadn't run like that in months—he hated running. Anything about sports made him belch.  
  
He made a face. Including that _Jock_. He should have realized who that kid _was_. Yami Atemu, one of the most popular kids in school. The one people said _looked_ like him.  
  
"I do _not_ look like an evil porcupine," he said to himself, shaking his head. Then he burst into giggles. Evil porcupine indeed!  
  
Granted, he had never come face to face with Yami, until today, nor the other two popular people who looked like them. All he knew was their names: Bakura Ryou and Marik Ishtar. He wondered if Marik and Malik were related. And shocking...Ryou and Bakura had their names in reverse. Freaky.  
  
Once he was able to control his laughter, he turned on his computer and proceeded to going to their chatroom—Malik was probably bored out of his mind without another chatter, because Ryou was probably still at school.  
  
_**DarkMagician is logged in Outkasts Chatroom.**  
  
Downright-Evil: Took you long enough! I was bored out my mind!  
  
_ Yugi rolled his eyes. Typical. The screen name and the comment were so Malik.  
  
_DarkMagician: Hello to you, too.  
  
Downright-Evil: Skip the niceties and explain.  
  
DarkMagician: Sorry. I got detained.  
  
Downright-Evil: By what?  
  
DarkMagician: Take a good look outside the window, Malik (if you have one) and you'll notice it's raining.  
  
Downright-Evil: Oh.  
  
DarkMagician: Stupid.  
  
**MusicAddict is logged in Outkasts Chatroom.**  
  
DarkMagician: Hey, Ryou! You're here!  
  
MusicAddict: Obvious much, Yugi.  
  
DarkMagician: 0.o ...Sorry...  
  
Downright-Evil: Sarcasm equals to bad mood. Care to explain?  
  
MusicAddict: (fuming) There was this **IDIOT JOCK!!!!**  
  
_ Yugi winced. Ryou normally didn't put down people. What could this Jock have done to him? Geez...what an idiot, whoever he was. Shaking his head, he typed a reply.  
  
_DarkMagician: So...?  
  
MusicAddict: I was walking past the soccer field. Then he hit me with that stupid ball!!!!  
  
Downright-Evil: ...That's not so bad.  
  
MusicAddict: IT GETS WORSE!!!! NOW SHUT UP!  
  
Downright-Evil: 0.0 Yessir!  
  
MusicAddict: Anyway, this idiot came up to me and asked if I was okay. Well duh, I wasn't! Then he suddenly told me I shouldn't walk by the soccer field because **I'm a UNIQUE PERSON!!!**  
  
DarkMagician: Ouch. Polite much?  
  
MusicAddict: So I blew up on him. That BASTARD!!!  
  
Downright-Evil: 0.o Ryou swearing...that is so wrong. The world is coming to an end.  
  
MusicAddict: I hate that guy!!!!  
  
DarkMagician: ...  
  
MusicAddict: WORSE OF ALL, HE WAS THAT IDIOT PEOPLE THINK I LOOK LIKE!!!  
  
Downright-Evil: 0.o Bakura Ryou...  
  
Downright-Evil: THAT'S A JOCK!  
  
DarkMagician: Ouch...poor you.  
  
MusicAddict: I hate that idiot! I'll kill him! Literally!  
  
DarkMagician: You **have** been hanging around Malik too much, Ryou. Calm down.  
  
Downright-Evil: Funny...I had a run-in with a Jock too. Now that I think about it...it was that guy people think I look like...Marik Ishtar.  
  
DarkMagician: Are you related?  
  
Downright-Evil: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can never be related to A JOCK!  
  
MusicAddict: Are you sure you're not related?  
  
Downright-Evil: We're not related, OKAY?!?!?! SO DON'T PUSH IT!!!  
  
DarkMagician: Yessir!  
  
MusicAddict: So how'd this encounter go?  
  
Downright-Evil: Better than yours, that's for sure.  
  
MusicAddict: .; MEANIE!!!  
  
Downright-Evil: Anyway, he was molesting a computer in the computer room...  
  
DarkMagician: Oh, the poor computer.  
  
MusicAddict: What a pity.  
  
Downright-Evil: Anyway, whatever that Jock did, the computer got busted, so I'm going to school early tomorrow to fix it. So I let him use my computer.  
  
DarkMagician: 0.0  
  
MusicAddict: YOU let HIM use YOUR **COMPUTER**?!?!?!? Have you literally gone INSANE?  
  
DarkMagician: Malik finally snapped...  
  
Downright-Evil: There were no other computers open. And I guess I felt sorry for him...but if I find a virus in my computer, the guy's gonna die. **:LAUGHS EVILLY:**  
  
DarkMagician: :shakes head: Malik, I bet you just wanted to kill that person, and you needed an excuse.  
  
MusicAddict: That's for sure. That is so Malik.  
  
Downright-Evil: Aww...shut up. Anyway, it turns out he didn't have a back-up disk.  
  
DarkMagician: What FOOL doesn't have a back-up disk!?  
  
MusicAddict: He's a Jock. Figure it out.  
  
Downright-Evil: So I lent him a back-up disk. Honestly...people think I look like him? What an idiot. My hair doesn't stand up! What a—  
  
MusicAddict: JOCK!!!  
  
DarkMagician: JOCK!!!  
  
Downright-Evil: What can we expect?  
  
MusicAddict: What about you, Yugi? Accidentally met with your popular counterpart?  
  
DarkMagician: ...Actually...yes.  
  
Downright-Evil: :falls out of his chair: You're kidding!  
  
DarkMagician: Nope.  
  
MusicAddict: Geez...the fates **do** have it in for us.  
  
Downright-Evil: So what did the git do?  
  
DarkMagician: ...He was actually nice. That Bakura kid was the annoying one.  
  
MusicAddict: Knew it. My evil counterpart is the most evil. BWHAHAHAH!  
  
Downright-Evil: Wait a minute. You met **two** Jocks?!?!  
  
DarkMagician: Yep.  
  
Downright-Evil: Poor you!  
  
DarkMagician: Well, I was caught in the rain awhile ago, then he drove up to me and said, "It's raining."  
  
MusicAddict: Uh...**duh**??? Idiot much?  
  
DarkMagician: :giggles: I know. Stupid idiot, really. But he did offer me a ride, and it went kinda smoothly, until Bakura started listening to music...  
  
Downright-Evil: Are you sure it was music, or just unidentified sound?  
  
DarkMagician: Latter.  
  
MusicAddict: Poor you.  
  
DarkMagician: Anyway, the turning point was when Bakura started to sing.  
  
MusicAddict: 0.o  
  
Downright-Evil: On the scale of one to ten...  
  
DarkMagician: -8.  
  
MusicAddict: Ouch.  
  
DarkMagician: Yami noticed...  
  
Downright-Evil: YAMI? First name calling? Are you close or something?  
  
DarkMagician: HE WAS NICE!!! Anyway, Yami got annoyed at Bakura's singing so he got a little distracted, and then I yelled, "There!" because, **duh**, my house was there. However, our stupid driver wasn't concentrating, so he pulled to a really fast stop that I nearly flew out the window.  
  
MusicAddict: Ouchie.  
  
DarkMagician: But it was okay, considering **your** experiences.  
  
MusicAddict: :cries:  
  
Downright-Evil: But it still proves they're idiots.  
  
DarkMagician: That's for sure._  
  
$$$  
  
Marik frowned at his friends, feeling restless. Bakura was singing his heart out, even though he was completely tone-deaf, and Yami was fiddling with the volume—trying to drown out the tomb robber's singing, Marik guessed.  
  
Seto and Joey had gone to his room to do homework, and Marik was fully assured they were—the yells and crashes of Seto's furniture could be heard up 'til the rec room, where they were.  
  
Mai and Tea were swimming in Seto's pool, which was on the lower floor, and totally sheltered. They had invited Serenity to come along, but she had too much homework.  
  
Marik sighed and stretched. He turned to glare at the albino boy. "Bakura, it's raining already. Stop ruining my eardrums."  
  
Bakura glared at him, but stopped singing. Yami heaved a sigh of relief and took a seat next to Marik. Bakura followed suit, still pouting.  
  
Marik frowned. Something was wrong. Something at the back of his brain was screaming something at him. He wondered what. Stupid brain.  
  
"You look a little restless," Yami said, looking at him concernedly. "Usually you're grinning evilly and plotting how to take over the world—at least, our school, anyway—but now you're frowning. Something wrong?"  
  
Bakura turned to look closer at their friend. "Yami's right. Marik, spill. What happened?"  
  
Marik rolled his eyes and propped himself on the many pillows. He opened his mouth to speak, when Joey shrieked, "KAIBA! I will not TOLERATE that **_BACKGROUND_**!"  
  
**CRASH.**  
  
Yami winced. "Why'd they have to computer partners, anyway?" Yami grumbled. "All they ever do is argue."  
  
"Sensei said he didn't want siblings working on it together," Bakura answered. "So, back to the subject at hand. Marik?"  
  
Marik sighed. "Well...I had a run-in with a..._unique person_." That's an understatement.  
  
"Funny. So did Bakura," Yami said, grinning. His eyes were twinkling. Bakura glared at him.  
  
"Well, I wasn't the one who asked an Outkast to jump in his car and offer him a ride home!" Bakura retorted.  
  
Marik raised his eyebrow. Outkast? Had he heard wrong? They _never_ associated with Outkasts.  
  
Yami was blushing. "It was raining, you dolt! Just because I'm more gallant than you, doesn't mean I like the kid! Besides, we're not sure if he is an Outkast!"  
  
Marik's eyes widened, deciding he had **_not_** heard wrong. "Outkast?"  
  
"Yup. Yami and I met one on the way here," Bakura said. "Yami drove him home."  
  
"Well, Bakura also met an Outkast!" Yami shot back. "And if I remember correctly, he blew up on you! Because you were such a blunt idiot!"  
  
"Say that again!"  
  
"You were such a blunt idiot!"  
  
"That's it!"  
  
Bakura dove at Yami, and they started wrestling. Marik couldn't help but roll his eyes.  
  
"So you both met Outkasts too, huh?"  
  
They both looked up. "_Too_?" they said incredulously.  
  
"I met one...or so I think. He looked a lot like me."  
  
"Funny, the one I met looked like me too," Bakura said, frowning.  
  
"That's a strange coincidence. So did I," Yami mused. "Think the girls put them up to do it?"  
  
"I doubt it," Marik said. "The kid I met—he was totally against popular people."  
  
"How'd you meet, anyway?"  
  
"Well, I was doing that stupid homework, and the damn computer was acting up," Marik began. "Suddenly this kid pops in and tells me the computer's broken, and he'll work on it later. Then he brought me to that special computer room—you know, the one for teachers and that computer specialist in our school."  
  
"I suppose he was the computer specialist," Yami said. "Lucky for you."  
  
"I guess. His computer was with all this crazy gadgets—I didn't dare touch them, I had a feeling the kid would kill me if I accidentally ruin his computer, because he was obviously a computer freak." He propped himself with his elbow. "What about you?"  
  
"Well, I met this kid, who I supposed was an Outkast, and I accidentally hit him with a soccer ball."  
  
"Did he kill you?"  
  
Bakura rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"  
  
Yami laughed. "Anyway, Bakura went and told him all about high school discrimination," Yami smirked, "and the kid started yelling at him."  
  
"He got mad at me for no reason!" Bakura pouted. "I didn't mean to!"  
  
"Look, if I was him, I'd be mad at you too," Yami said.  
  
Marik laughed. "Let's go ask Seto about the Outkasts. I mean, what if they _weren't_ the Outkasts?"  
  
"You're right...I didn't exactly get the kid's name," Yami admitted. "Neither did Bakura. Did you?"  
  
Marik shook his head. "I barely got two words out of my mouth...the kid was totally up-front-and-center."  
  
"Figures. It's an Outkast, after all."  
  
"The guy _I_ met was nice," Marik said, raising his eyebrow at Bakura's comment. "He actually lent me a diskette and a computer. And Yami's counterpart seems nice, too, from the way he tells it."  
  
"I bet your counterpart was mad at you because you acted like a blunt idiot," Yami said, rolling his eyes. "So don't judge them by your encounter."  
  
Bakura glared at him. "I was giving him help!"  
  
"You hit him with a soccer ball," Marik pointed out. "C'mon, let's go crash Seto's room."  
  
They ran into his room...  
  
...to find Joey and Seto in the bed, Seto pinning Joey down.  
  
Bakura/Yami/Marik: 0.o  
  
"What are you guys doing?!" Bakura gasped, shocked. "You two aren't homosexual, aren't you?"  
  
Joey pushed Seto off him, blushing. "NO!"  
  
Seto glared at them. "It's a misunderstanding."  
  
The guys turned to look at each other and raise eyebrows.  
  
Joey was now blushing so much he looked like a tomato. "It's not like that, you hentai!" He stood up and pointed to a broken vase. "Kaiba got mad at me because I broke his vase. But he deserved it too," he glared at the CEO, "I didn't like what he was doing to our project."  
  
"I know better than you, mutt," Seto glowered.  
  
"Whatever," Joey muttered. "Look, I've got to get going...I promised Serenity to be home before nightfall."  
  
"It's only four o'clock, Joey," Bakura said, his eyebrow raised. "It doesn't turn nightfall until six o'clock."  
  
Joey blushed. "Oderhingsdo."  
  
"Er...?" Marik blinked.  
  
Joey cleared his throat. "I...have other things to do," he clarified.  
  
Seto glared at the computer screen, refusing to look at his friends. "Like what?"  
  
"...Duke, Tristan and I are going to the movies," he muttered, so softly, Yami hardly caught it.  
  
"Say that again?" Bakura said, blinking. "I didn't hear."  
  
Joey blushed again, and shook his head. "Never mind." Then he quickly left the room.  
  
There was silence until they heard the front door click—Yami doubted they would have heard it if it hadn't been so quiet.  
  
"What does he see in those people, anyway?" Seto said suddenly, still glaring at his computer screen.  
  
"He still calls you Kaiba," Marik mused. "You...aren't close...aren't you."  
  
Seto glared at them. "Get out. Just ask Mai or Tea whatever you were asking."  
  
Yami nodded and the three quietly left the room. Once they were out of earshot—a.k.a. halfway to the pool room—they began talking.  
  
"Actually, the correct question would be...what does he see in Joey?" Bakura asked, looking concerned. "I've never seen Seto act like this...even Mokuba noticed it, and he hardly notices things about his brother until it's serious." He bit his lip. "This is like...a jealousy thing."  
  
"You can't tell me he does like that guy!" Marik exclaimed, turning to look at Bakura. "You've got to be kidding."  
  
Yami shrugged. "Ya never know."  
  
They continued walking to the pool in silence. Once they reached the pool, they saw Tea and Mai shrieking and dousing each other with water.  
  
"Hey, girls," Marik greeted, smirking. "Care to satisfy our curiosity?" He chuckled. "And yours too, I suppose."  
  
Mai raised her eyebrow. "Do go on."  
  
"Well..." Yami grinned as Mai and Tea rose from the pool. Bakura handed them towels, and the five of them settled on a table.  
  
"Well?" Tea prompted. "Some girl caught your eye or something?"  
  
"Not really," Bakura said, shaking his head. "More like a guy."  
  
Mai's eyes widened. "Don't tell me—"  
  
"Not romantically," Marik said, rolling his eyes. "We are _not_ stooping down Seto's level." Yami and Bakura frowned at him.  
  
"So you finally noticed," Tea said, giggling. "We were wondering how long you three would stay oblivious."  
  
"No...really?" Bakura gasped out, shocked. "Seto _does_ like Joey?"  
  
"Is it that obvious?" Mai said, laughing. "Took you long enough. He's been crushing on him for months...that's why he keeps picking on him...to get his attention."  
  
"And he really dislikes Joey's other friends because he's very possessive," Tea added. "I can't believe it took you _this_ long."  
  
Yami frowned. "It's not like we approve of it, you know."  
  
"Okay. So who's this guy we're talking about?"  
  
"Outkasts."  
  
Mai nearly spat out the drink she was sipping.  
  
Tea's eyes bugged out. "Are you joking?"  
  
Marik shook his head. "For some strange reason, all three of us met up with an Outkast...the one said to look like us most."  
  
The corner of Mai's mouth quirked up. "What a _fascinating_ coincidence," she murmured. "And so?"  
  
"Well...we weren't really sure if they were Outkasts," Bakura admitted. "We didn't exactly catch their names."  
  
Tea shook her head. "That is so typical." Then she grabbed her backpack and brought out a thick book.  
  
Yami raised his eyebrow. "Uh...Tea?"  
  
"This book was specially made by me and Mai, with a bit of help from Serenity," she said proudly. "Every student that went in our school is recorded here. The info on the Outkasts is quite a lot—but most of them are unproven," she added.  
  
"If you sum it all up, we've only got a few facts on them," Mai continued. "Their files can't be easily hacked into, so we don't know basic things about them, like height, age, birthday, all that crap. But we do have pictures of them...which means you can recognize them easily."  
  
She flipped to a page. "_**This**_ is an Outkast."  
  
"Hey! That's the kid we picked up in the rain awhile ago!" Bakura exclaimed.  
  
Tea looked a book a little more closer. "Yugi Motou. He's an Outkast, that's for sure. Gifted with literary skills."  
  
"So he _was_ an Outkast," Yami said softly.  
  
"According to rumors, he's the most gentle and mild-mannered of the three," Mai said. "He's also very creative and quiet."  
  
"Okay! Let's look for the next one!"  
  
Tea flipped to the next page. "Malik Ishtar."  
  
"Whoa! Are you two related? You've got the same last name!" Bakura blurted out.  
  
"Nope. I don't think we're related in any way...but he _is_ the kid from the computer room," Marik said, giving Bakura a glare. "Too bad he's an Outkast."  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow at Mark's comment, but was unable to say anything as Mai began to read out loud. "Malik Ishtar is a blackbelt owner, a martial arts champion. He is good with computers and other gadgets."  
  
"Guess that's why he hangs out in the computer room."  
  
"He is said to be the one with a fiery temper and very decided ways. He can be altogether pushy and he likes making things." Tea chuckled. "Weird guy."  
  
"So where's the last one?"  
  
Mai flipped to the last parts of the book. "Ryou Bakura."  
  
"Neat. He has your name in reverse," Yami marveled. Bakura glared at him.  
  
"Ryou is the one talented with any musical instrument, and he can also sing very well. He is quiet, but when provoked he can be very dangerous; a lot like a sleeping dragon."  
  
"Well, looks like you did manage to provoke him, Bakura," Marik said teasingly. "Too think he's such a cute guy. You totally lost an opportunity to get to know him better."  
  
"Shut up," Bakura snapped. "So I guess they _were_ Outkasts..."  
  
"Well, our work here is done," Mai chirped. "C'mon, let's go home so we can run the telephone bill."  
  
"We've finally gotten a three-way phone," Tea added. "We're calling Serenity."  
  
The girls said goodbye and left.  
  
Marik looked at his friends. "This has been one freaky day."  
  
"Yeah. I've never had such a coincidence happen before," Yami admitted. "Oh well. By tomorrow, life will be back to normal."  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
That's what they think... :grins:  
  
Oh yeah, I did spell it Outkast, that's the way it's spelled. Anybody here read Una and Miguel? I'm loosely basing this story on it.   
  
And this is not the normal popular-guy-meets-geek concept. This is totally different, since the guys don't like them, and they're just shocked how weird they act. No bets, no nothing. I'm not even sure if this is going to be yaoi, good lord. And the Outkasts totally dislike their popular counterparts, (hah! Discrimination!) and hate their guts. A lot.  
  
Believe me, this reminds me of my position at school...I'm like Malik...I definitely hate this guy, who hates me back, but people say we look alike. :gags: People keep pairing us up, and I'm the brainy one in the two of us. We even met the same way (except I didn't lend him a diskette, and I just hit him in the head and told him he was an idiot, then pushed him to the side and did the homework for him.)  
  
R&R!


	3. Thrown Together

** Learning and Losing**  
  
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start.  
But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...   
  
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.  
  
** $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Chapter Three: Thrown Together  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$**  
  
Ryou was walking on his way to school, clutching a piece of paper. His brow was furrowed, and he looked very serious.  
  
"Composing is so hard," he muttered to himself as he walked. "Oh well..."  
  
Last night, when he and his friends had chatted in the Internet, Malik had pointed out that he didn't really need to compose a song—it would be too hard. Yugi said so too, but he promised to help.  
  
This was a project that Ryou wanted to work on since he learned how to play the piano. Even though it wasn't school-related, the challenge was enough to excite him.  
  
"Hmm...I dunno...maybe if I made it a little faster...would the beat and rhythm go together?" he chewed the end of his pencil nervously. Everyone expected everything he did—that had something to do with music—to be well, so he hadn't told anyone yet, except his friends.  
  
He couldn't help but feel a little pressured in school. Staying on the top three, doing well in all his classes, excelling in music—he shook his head. It was just too much.  
  
At that moment the paper that he was writing on flew away and was flying on the street.  
  
"Shit!" he cursed, and looked around for any cars. He had been working on that for _months_; he wasn't letting that go down the drain.  
  
After making sure there were no cars, he jumped on the railing onto the sidewalk (think Shuichi in Gravitation) and ran after the paper flying about.  
  
Eventually he managed to grasp it. He smiled at the paper; he was glad nothing happened. At that very moment he heard a sound. A lot like a car.  
  
He managed to turn around and gasp as the car nearly hit him.  
  
Luckily, the car swerved to the right to avoid him.  
  
Unfortunately for Ryou, it had rained yesterday, so there were a lot of puddles.  
  
Which meant he got totally wet.  
  
Ryou gritted his teeth. At least he was alive, right?  
  
_Wrong._  
  
He _hated_ water.  
  
He was going to _kill _this guy.  
  
At that moment, the person who owned the car got out and scowled at him. "YOU nearly made a DENT on my CAR, baka!"  
  
Ryou glared at the boy. The nerve of him! He really _was_ going to kill this idiot. "YOU nearly ran ME over!"  
  
"Well, YOU shouldn't have been in the MIDDLE of the STREET!"  
  
"I was trying to GET something!"  
  
"Well-" the boy cut himself off. He walked up to Ryou and grabbed his chin. Ryou glared at him and pulled away.  
  
"What!?" Ryou glared at him, and the boy stepped back.  
  
"You're that kid from yesterday!" the guy exclaimed.  
  
Ryou's eyes nearly widened in shock at the realization._ Shit.  
_  
It _was_ Bakura Ryou.  
  
Well, what did he expect? No one but a_ Jock_ would be that arrogant over his _car_.  
  
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  
  
On one hand, he had a very plausible reason to kill him—two very good reasons, actually—but on the other hand, he was seeing this Jock again, and he had been hoping _never_ to see this idiot every again.  
  
Great.  
  
Life sucked, honestly.  
  
"And you're that Jock from yesterday," he said sarcastically. If this guy wasn't going to acknowledge his name, then neither would he. HAH!  
  
While Ryou contemplated if he was hanging around too much Malik, we switch POVs to Bakura.  
  
$$$  
  
"Oh..." Bakura said nervously. Honestly, _why_ did he have to say that? He knew the kid's name, after all.  
  
Deciding to introduce himself when he got the chance, he gestured to his car. "Um...want a ride?"  
  
"Excuse me?" the Outkast raised his eyebrow.  
  
"Well...I **did** nearly ran you over," he said softly.  
  
The boy rolled his eyes. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've had enough coincidences with you to last a lifetime."  
  
Bakura snapped. "We've only met two times!"  
  
"And I intend to keep it that way."  
  
What was wrong with this kid!?  
  
The boy was just about to go back to the sidewalk via jumping on the rail, when Bakura got a brainstorm. "You're wet...uh...are you sure you don't want to ride? You can dry off in the car."  
  
The boy scowled at him. "If you're going to be so persistent, fine."  
  
The Outkast marched into the car and into the front seat. Shaking his head, Bakura also got into the car and began driving.  
  
Then he handed towels to the boy.  
  
The boy smiled at him and Bakura couldn't help but feel weird. The kid was just yelling at him two seconds ago, and now he was smiling at him.  
  
This kid was as unpredictable as the weather.  
  
"Thank you," he muttered softly. Then the car was quiet all the way to school.  
  
Once they reached the parking lot, the boy got out the car. "Thanks." He was already walking away.  
  
Bakura sucked his breath, then got out of the car too. "**Wait!**"  
  
The boy turned around. "_Yes_?" he asked pointedly.  
  
"Um...I don't think I've caught your name yet," he said sheepishly. "Er- "  
  
"Ryou Bakura," the boy cut him off.  
  
"I'm-"  
  
"Bakura Ryou," Ryou answered for him. "I know. Doesn't everybody?" He rolled his eyes then left the parking lot.  
  
Bakura blinked. Now, he felt _really_ weird.  
  
$$$  
  
Yami groaned to himself. What did the principal want now?  
  
"Sometimes being captain of nearly all the school teams can be frustrating," he mumbled to himself. Had his teammates blown up a toilet or something?  
  
He soon reached the door with a sign PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE. And with a sigh, he opened the door.  
  
"Ah. Yami Atemu. Please take a seat."  
  
Yami nodded and sat down on chair. The principal stood up and gave him a very businesslike smile. "First of all, Yami, I would like to congratulate you on your win in the basketball game last week. It was quite refreshing."  
  
Yami snickered to himself. Of course. They clobbered the opposing team, thanks to him.  
  
"You also have a soccer game coming up next Thursday, am I right?"  
  
"Yes sir," he answered obediently. "We've been practicing hard."  
  
"Good, good," the principal said approvingly. "Now, to the matter at hand..."  
  
Yami felt his chest tighten. He could feel that something bad was happening. Something _really_ bad.  
  
"Yami, my boy, you're in every school team that has something to do with a sport. And in more than half of them, you're the captain. Now, I'm very glad you can handle your extra-curriculars very well, but unfortunately, they seem to be taking up the time that is supposed to be reserved for studying. Your teachers had informed me that you're failing a lot of your subjects."  
  
Yami stood up to interrupt the teacher, but he motioned for him to sit down.  
  
"You may be expecting yourself to get through school via a scholarship in your many sports' skills, but it's just not enough. We recommend that you quit a few teams-"  
  
Yami shook his head. "That's impossible, sir."  
  
The principal sighed. "I'm afraid, Yami, that if your grades _don't_ pick up, we'll be forced to take you out in _all_ the teams."  
  
Yami gasped. "_All_ the teams?" he repeated, feeling very sick.  
  
"Yes, Yami, all the teams. And I doubt you'd want _that_."  
  
He shook his head, still in shock.  
  
"Since you're a great asset to all your teams, we have decided that another solution is in order. That would be to get a tutor."  
  
Yami looked up. "A tutor?"  
  
"Yes, a tutor." The principal nodded. "We've asked the top three students to come here. The one who agrees will be your tutor." He turned to look at his watch. "Unfortunately, they seem to have lost track of time—completely understandable—those boys are normally busy. Let's just meet again later after school, shall we?"  
  
The principal stood up, and he and Yami quietly left the room.  
  
Yami was still in shock. He would be forced to quit _all_ the teams if his grades didn't pick up. His teammates would _kill_ him. He had to get that tutor.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
His head snapped up at the familiar voice, and he turned to see the boy from yesterday.  
  
He felt the color drain from his face. An _Outkast_. This was supposed to be his tutor.  
  
The principal had to be kidding!  
  
"Oh, Yugi!" the man boomed. "Oh, good thing you came, Mr. Atemu and I were just leaving...er, Yami, come back, we'll have the meeting now after all." His smile disappeared. "Where is Mr. Bakura and Mr. Ishtar?"  
  
$$$  
  
Yugi shook his head. "Malik's fixing something in the computer room..._someone_ busted one of the computers," he said pointedly, shooting a half-glance at the Jock standing next to the teacher. What had this guy done now? "And Ryou is...well...busy. He's composing a song."  
  
The principal looked startled. "For school?"  
  
"No, for fun."  
  
He heard a very rude snort coming from the Jock. Yugi fought the urge to roll his eyes; they had very different ways of defining fun, if he understood well.  
  
The principal turned to look at the Jock witheringly. "Mr. Yami Atemu!"  
  
Yugi nearly gasped in shock. This wasn't any normal Jock. It was _that_ Jock. The guy who picked him up yesterday! Why didn't he recognize him earlier?  
  
When silence reigned for a few minutes, the principal coughed nervously. "Well, let's get going then." The principal ushered them both in his office. After they both took their seats, the principal opened his mouth to speak.  
  
"Yugi, you must know that Yami Atemu is one of our best players in nearly all the sports teams of our school," he began. "Unfortunately-"  
  
"He's failing his classes, so he needs a tutor," Yugi interrupted, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Typical. He knew this would be coming sooner or later. And he also knew it had to be a Jock.  
  
Being one of the top three had advantages and disadvantages.  
  
The principal smiled. "Yes, Yugi-kun. I'm glad, since you seem to understand the situation perfectly..." He looked at him seriously. "Can we ask you to be his tutor?"  
  
Yugi turned the idea around his head. Malik _definitely_ couldn't be a tutor—this kid would be dead in the first meeting. Malik _wasn't_ patient, and he hated slow people. Especially when it came to studying. _**Danger zone**_.  
  
As for Ryou, he had enough to worry about. This was his first time composing, and he definitely hated Jocks for the time being–Yugi winced, remembering last night's chat—and he, Yugi, obviously had the most free time and patience of the three.  
  
He sighed. The principal wouldn't be too happy if he refused. And besides, he knew it was coming, anyway, no point trying to avoid it. He might as well.  
  
He sighed again.  
  
"Oh, but if you are too busy, I'd understand!" the principal said, looking alarmed at his sigh. "We can always find Mr. Atemu a different tutor!"  
  
"Never mind," he said, forcing a smile. "It's not going to take too much of my time, of course?"  
  
"Yes. Meeting three times a week is enough. I'll leave you two to discuss it, shall I?" the principal looked very happy at the outcome. "Well, of you go!"  
  
He and Yami quietly left the room.  
  
Once they were safely out, Yugi turned to the Jock. "Look, I'm totally comfortable with you changing the meeting schedules for your practices and other things, as long as we have one of them in the weekend. Easy enough? Okay then, goodbye."  
  
Yugi turned to leave, not even waiting for a reply, when he felt the boy grabbed his arm. He turned. "Yes?"  
  
The boy looked sheepish. "Um...we haven't really introduced ourselves yet...."  
  
"Even if the principal mentioned my name nearly five times awhile ago," he muttered under his breath. Then, raising his voice, he smiled at the boy. "Yugi. Yugi Motou."  
  
"Er...right." He nodded. "My name's-"  
  
"Yami Atemu," he cut off. "I know. Everybody does."  
  
Then he stalked off, feeling as if his day _wasn't_ starting right.  
  
$$$  
  
Marik felt like an idiot. He had completely _forgotten_ to have his homework printed in some shop, so he was going to the computer room to ask the teacher to give him another day.  
  
He sighed.  
  
Life sucked, honestly.  
  
He entered the room, not to find the teacher there, but the kid from yesterday working on the computer he had busted yesterday. The _Outkast_.  
  
"What are you doing here?" the boy asked, turning to look at him.  
  
"Er...I wasn't able to print my homework yesterday because of the rain, so..."  
  
The boy sighed. "Don't you have a computer in your house?"  
  
Marik opened his mouth to speak, but the kid raised his hand, shaking his head. "Never mind. You probably do, but you just don't know how to work it." He rolled his eyes. "Hand it over, I'll print it."  
  
Marik widened his eyes. This kid was honestly weird. He really wasn't expecting an _Outkast_ to be like this.  
  
"Stop gaping like an idiot...haven't you done that yesterday already?" the boy walked up to him and held out his hand. Marik handed the diskette to him.  
  
"Nice to know you used it," he mused. "Follow me."  
  
Marik obediently followed, this time without comment, into the room where the kid's computer was.  
  
$$$  
  
Malik was doing everything in his power not to pull out his hair in frustration, no matter how funny this situation was. How could this guy be so stupid? Honestly.  
  
If this guy represented all the Jocks, he was totally convinced they were hopeless.  
  
He walked up to his computer, and opened it. Once it finished loading, the boy turned to look at his background. "_Final Fantasy X_?" the boy said, almost amazed.  
  
"What do you think, I don't play PlayStation2?" he said, scowling at the boy. Geez, for a Jock this guy was stupid...to think they could be related. He gagged at the thought.  
  
He put in the diskette then opened the file. He scanned the file and nearly gasped at it. What was this? A _bird_ could do better than this!  
  
"What's your normal average?" he asked abruptly, turning look at the Jock behind him.  
  
The Jock looked confused. "Er..."  
  
He sighed. "Your normal grade, you dolt!" He fought the insane urge to strangle the guy.  
  
The Jock began to think. "Um...normally C minus."  
  
Malik nearly gasped. "C minus? I'd give this an F!"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Take a good look at it! A first-grader could have done better! Geez!"  
  
"Just because I'm not good at computers..."  
  
"I can't believe people like you actually exist!" Malik shook his head. "And normally those people are dumb blondes in movies! And they're female! Good God, if I knew people like you existed, I wouldn't be shocked why economy is down in many parts of world!"  
  
The Jock just looked confused—he kept blinking.  
  
Malik sighed. "You're hopeless." He looked at the kid's homework closer. "Well, if I improve this, Mina-sensei would definitely notice something..." he shuddered. "You're terrible."  
  
The boy glared at him.  
  
Took him long enough to react.  
  
He grabbed his rose-scented paper and printed the Jock's homework on it. He handed it the Jock, who was smirking.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Rose-scented?"  
  
"So what if I like printing it like that?" Malik put his hands on his hips. "I like roses." He looked at his watch. "Oh shit! We have a meeting with the principal right now!" He quickly closed his computer and dragged the stupid Jock outside the computer room, marveling that there really are stupid people in the world.  
  
As soon as they reached the outside, he quickly ran to get to the Principal's office—this stupid Jock was really time-taking—the stupid Jock grabbed his arm.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um...thanks...uh..." He looked muddled.  
  
Malik rolled his eyes. _Guy doesn't even know my name_, it waved in big neon colors. "Malik Ishtar."  
  
The boy looked startled, then he smiled a little. "I'm-"  
  
"Marik Ishtar," he interrupted.  
  
The Jock started. "How'd you know?"  
  
Malik fought the _really_ insane urge to strangle the guy. Honestly. It was taking all his instincts not to strangle the Jock. "Everybody knows your name," he said sarcastically. "By the way—_we have got to stop meeting like this_. It's making me pity the world more and more."  
  
And he left the Jock before the guy could even comprehend what he said.  
  
Fate really did hate him.  
  
He wondered if Ryou and Yugi were having as much as bad morning as he was.  
  
Shaking his head, he ran for his first class—he was too late for the meeting.  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Yeah, people like that really exist. We had a test one time:  
  
**What is the middle color of the rainbow?  
**  
A few people answered _pink, yellow, orange, red_. A few people _didn't answer the question at all.  
_  
While us smart people simply answered green.  
  
This proves people (at least, some of them) are horrendously stupid.  
  
I love this chapter; honestly, it was really funny (in my opinion.) Next chapter they start calling each other in their respective names.  
  
R&R! 


	4. From Bad to Worse

**Learning and Losing**  
  
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...   
  
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.  
  
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**_Chapter Four: From Bad to Worse_**  
  
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Malik stomped angrily to his classroom. He opened the door and sought his friends. He spotted them next to the window—Yugi reading a book, Ryou, sketching—and walked up to them.  
  
He looked at the sketch Ryou was working on; it was an almost exact replica of the view from the window. A small smile crossed his features. "Nice sketch."  
  
Ryou smiled at him. "Thanks."  
  
Yugi looked up from the book he was reading. "I thought you were composing, Ryou."  
  
"Yugi, I'm out of ideas for now. I'll work on it later. Besides," Ryou smirked. "No inspiration yet. This sketch just might inspire me." He giggled.  
  
"Lucky you. Gifted in music and art," Malik teased.  
  
Ryou shook his head. "It's really easy, you guys."  
  
"You're really lucky. I can't draw," Yugi said mournfully, returning to his book. "Not even stick figures. And I can't sing either."  
  
Malik laughed. "What are you reading, anyway?"  
  
"_Greek Myths Volume 1_," Yugi said, showing the book to them. "There's Volume 2 and 3 in the library. I might pass by sometime this week."  
  
"I haven't been in the library for a long time," Ryou mused. "Wanna stop by today?"  
  
"Sure!" Malik turned to look at Yugi. "Coming?"  
  
Yugi sighed. "It depends. I don't know if my tutoree wants to study today."  
  
Ryou raised his eyebrow. "You're tutoring someone?"  
  
"Yep." Yugi made a face. "Jock."  
  
"I knew it would be coming sooner or later."  
  
"So that's what the meeting with the principal was about?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Good thing we didn't go then," Malik said cheerfully.  
  
Yugi glared at them. "_You_ didn't go. But you wouldn't tutor him anyhow...he'd be dead first meeting. And Ryou's a little busy."  
  
"No duh. So who's the lucky Jock?" Ryou asked.  
  
Yugi rolled his eyes. "_Yami Atemu_." He groaned. "Fate does have it in for me."  
  
Ryou sighed. "You're not alone. I had a run-in with my evil counterpart awhile ago." He scowled. "He nearly ran me over." He put his pencil down. "Oh yeah, and he drove me to the school. He is such a jerk! I can't stand him."  
  
"Yami's okay...I guess," Yugi said doubtfully. "But I don't like him either."  
  
Malik laughed. "So I'm not alone in this bad morning, huh?"  
  
"You also met your evil counterpart?"  
  
"To say it plainly, yes. He's so honestly stupid, it makes me pity the world." Malik shook his head. "His computer homework looked like some kindergarten kid did it."  
  
"What did you expect?"  
  
"Well...we are in high school, Ryou..." Malik rolled his eyes. "I wonder how he passed elementary."  
  
"Maybe we should start calling them Jerks," Ryou suggested. "Since they call us Outkasts, after all."  
  
"Wouldn't Jocks be a more appropriate name?"  
  
"Check it out," Yugi said, changing the subject before Malik and Ryou began arguing on what to call their evil counterparts. "Looks like Joey and the gang are in this class."  
  
True enough, Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were headed for them, smiling. Malik couldn't help but smile back.  
  
Since they were the top three, the school arranged for them to take as many classes as possible. So their schedule was full, and it switched every semester. They were able to pass all their classes with flying colors; it was a wonder, even to them, how they could handle things so well.  
  
Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were one of the few friends they had. But they had been so busy last semester, they hardly had anytime to talk to them.  
  
"Hey guys!" Tristan greeted them as they reached the three friends.  
  
"Nihao," Yugi said brightly.  
  
"Hola."  
  
"Ahn-young."  
  
Blink.  
  
"What?" Joey said, looking confused.  
  
The three of them blushed.  
  
"We meant hello," Ryou said, smiling nervously. "Sorry...we forgot...it's only the three of us who study a lot of languages."  
  
"For your classes?" Duke asked.  
  
They exchanged glances.  
  
"Actually...for fun," Malik admitted. "We like reading languages up."  
  
"It's fascinating," Yugi added.  
  
Joey shook his head. "You guys are probably the weirdest kids in this school."  
  
"Outkasts, remember?" Yugi said dryly.  
  
"Aww...c'mon, no one calls you anymore," Serenity protested.  
  
"Not to our face, they don't," Ryou said darkly. "Can we please not talk about it?"  
  
Tristan laughed. "Malik, you _are_ affecting Ryou."  
  
"The impossible has happened," Joey joked, and they all burst out laughing.  
  
$$$  
  
"Did you hear? The Outkasts are in our Chemistry class!" Tea squealed to her friends. She and Mai stole a few peeks at the classroom.  
  
"Yup, they're here!"  
  
Marik, Yami and Bakura groaned. "_NNNNOOOOO!_" –Johnny Bravo style.  
  
Seto raised his eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"  
  
"You definitely did!" Mai giggled. "The guys, excluding you, met their counterparts in the Outkast society yesterday."  
  
"And this morning," Bakura added dully.  
  
"Look at the bright side, we were finally able to introduce ourselves," Marik said, sarcasm dripping.  
  
"_Hello?_ If you were listening to me while I was ranting, that Yugi kid is my tutor!" Yami complained. "Which means I actually have to talk to him! ASSOCIATE with him! EVEN _BEFRIEND_ HIM!"  
  
"Yesterday you said he was okay," Tea pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, but there's a big difference between him being okay and him being my _tutor_," Yami rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine me associating with an Outkast?"  
  
"Look, there's nothing you can do. You'll be kicked out of the teams, and you'll suffer a worse reputation, you said it yourself," Bakura reminded him.  
  
Yami sighed. "Guess I have to go talk to him, to arrange our meeting." He narrowed his eyes at the thought.  
  
"And here's another good reason to talk to him. He's hanging out with Serenity..." Mai smirked. "...and Joey."  
  
Seto's head snapped up. "What!?"  
  
All of them turned to look where the two girls where pointing; it was true, Joey and his friends were hanging around with the Outkasts. They were, at the moment, all laughing at something.  
  
Yami sighed. "Guess I should go talk to Yugi."  
  
They walked up to them.  
  
The Outkasts looked up when they approached. Ryou narrowed his eyes, and returned to sketching. Malik scowled and looked out the window. The rest, however, greeted them rather nervously.  
  
Mai turned to Serenity. "Hey, Serenity, wanna come with us today? It's Friday, so we can definitely hang out. Seto's house after basketball practice?" Mai asked, grinning.  
  
"Sure. What about you, oni-san?"  
  
Joey turned to look at Seto, who was glaring at Tristan and Duke. "Are we...working on the project today?"  
  
Seto scowled. "Yes. We have to pass this on Monday, you know."  
  
"Your house, then."  
  
"Duh. Stupid mutt." Seto rolled his eyes. "Your computer could never compete with mine."  
  
Joey clenched his fists; Duke and Tristan frowned at Seto.  
  
"Er...Yugi...would you mind if we had that tutor thing today? After classes?" Yami looked at him hopefully.  
  
Yugi closed the book he was reading, and shot a look at Malik and Ryou, who were grinning. He gave them a warning glare, then turned to Yami. "Where?"  
  
"Seto's house."  
  
"I don't know where-"  
  
"I'll drive you there," Yami said quickly. "Do you mind waiting until after basketball practice?"  
  
Yugi pursed his lips as Malik snorted and Ryou started giggling. "Sure."  
  
"You can bring your other friends!" Tea said enthusiastically, indicating to Ryou and Malik. Bakura and Marik started making frantic gestures, but Tea didn't see it.  
  
Serenity clapped her hands. "Really?" she turned to Duke and Tristan. "You guys have to come! It'll be fun, promise! Beisdes, ni-san will be there!"  
  
Duke and Tristan exchanged unsure looks, but nodded. Seto looked like he was about to interrupt, but Mai gave him a warning glare, so he simply scowled at the wall and remained silent.  
  
Yugi turned to his friends, who had stopped acting funny and were shooting each other meaningful looks. "Guys?" He shot pleading looks at both of them that clearly said, _Don't leave me at the mercy of the enemy!_  
  
Ryou looked away. "E tuh'd fyhd du, Yugi-kun."  
  
Yugi sighed. "Pid Ryou..." If possible, Yugi actually made his eyes go larger and more childlike. Ryou looked to the ceiling, biting his lip. _Ahh! Puppy dog eyes! Somebody, blind Yugi!  
_  
Malik rolled his eyes, but gave in to Yugi's request. "E's kuehk." Ryou looked down from the ceiling to shoot an amazed look at him.  
  
Yugi smiled at Malik. "Sheshe."  
  
Ryou growled. _Hate, hate, hate..._ "Veha."  
  
Yugi clapped his hands and exchanged high-fives with Malik. "Oac!"  
  
Malik sighed, a small grin on his face. "Yugi, you owe us."  
  
Blink.  
  
"Um...do you guys mind? Next time you hold a conversation, try it in a language we know," Tristan said jokingly. "Honestly...whatever language were you speaking this time?"  
  
The three Outkasts blushed.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
Everybody looked just as confused as Tristan. Whatever language the three of them spoke in, only the three of them understood.  
  
"So...?" Yami prompted Yugi.  
  
Yugi smiled. "Yeah, we're going."  
  
"I'm not promising to enjoy this," Ryou muttered, glaring at his sketch. Malik patted him, and quickly went back to his seat.  
  
"Coming, Ryou?" Yugi said, standing up.  
  
Ryou nodded. "Whatever."  
  
The three Outkasts went to their seats.  
  
"God is punishing me," Bakura murmured. "An entire afternoon with an extremely violent counterpart. Yup, He's out to get me."  
  
$$$  
  
"_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there..._"  
  
Marik winced. Bakura was once again singing. He looked around. On one corner, Yugi and Yami were sitting on a table, a stack of books in front of them. Yami looked confused, Yugi looked exasperated. On the other corner, Serenity, Mai and Tea were giggling and gossiping, hardly noticing Bakura's bad singing. Seto and Joey were in front of the computer, Joey looking happy because Tristan and Duke were right behind them, making wisecracks; Seto looking annoyed, probably because of the same reason.  
  
He was sitting on the couch, next to him was Malik, who looked amused, and next to Malik was Ryou, who looked really annoyed.  
  
"_And I know...I may end up..._" Bakura was oblivious to the world, singing with enthusiasm. Marik was doing everything in his power not to strangle his friends. Malik was toying with a loose thread. Ryou had his hands clamped over ears, trying to drown out the horrible voice in vain.  
  
Malik sighed. "Is he always like this?" he turned to look at Marik expectantly.  
  
Marik blinked. "Are you talking to me?"  
  
The girls burst out giggling.  
  
Malik heaved a frustrated sigh. "Yes, Marik. I _am_ talking to you. Who do you think I was addressing the question to, _to the couch_? Geez...reality check..."  
  
Marik blushed at his remark. "Yeah...he's always like this."  
  
"_I'm becoming this...all I want to do-_"  
  
"That's it!" Ryou suddenly screeched, standing up, clenching his fists. "**_I WON'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"_**  
  
Malik had jumped up to restrain Ryou, and Yugi had hurriedly left Yami to help Malik.  
  
"_**IF I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THAT HORRIBLE NOISE EVER AGAIN, I'M GONNA KILL SOMEONE!!! PREFERABLY THE ONE MAKING THAT NOISE!**_"  
  
"Ryou!" Malik started shaking his friend. "Calm down!"  
  
Ryou turned to Malik with crazed eyes. "MAKE HIM SHUT UP THEN!"  
  
Bakura had already slunk away and was hiding behind Yami with terrified eyes. The entire house was quiet, watching Ryou like a ticking bomb.  
  
"Um...Ryou...take a deep breath, _and calm down_," Yugi said quickly, motioning for Ryou to sit down. Ryou growled, but flopped down his seat, eyes narrowed.  
  
"Keep him quiet," he growled. When nobody made any sound for a few minutes, Ryou began to relax.  
  
Malik and Yugi heaved sighs of relief, and quickly returned to their old positions. Bakura carefully walked to the couch and sat down next to Marik.  
  
"My counterpart is scary," he whispered to him.  
  
Marik shook his head. "Bakura, are you doing this to thwart him? You know he appreciates music—and your voice isn't music," he said, smirking.  
  
"That's for sure," Malik cut in.  
  
They turned to look at the Outkast, who was snickering. Bakura looked frightened.  
  
"I've never seen Ryou get so riled up before," Malik continued. "I suppose this is why we don't normally associate with you people."  
  
"What!?" Bakura frowned at Malik, who simply smirked at him.  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
Bakura scowled at him, and Marik sighed. "Kura, I don't think Seto would appreciate it if we blew up his house."  
  
Malik laughed. Seto glared at them.  
  
Yugi rolled his eyes and returned to tutoring the confused Yami.  
  
Mokuba entered the room, carrying a tray with a plate filled with food and glasses. "Um...brownies, anyone?"  
  
Duke, Tristan and Joey enthusiastically grabbed the plate of brownies and began eating. With very annoying sounds, I might add.  
  
Malik shot a warning look to Yugi, who looked very worried. Ryou looked ready explode again.  
  
At that moment, the three guys did one of the worst things to do with an angry Ryou around.  
  
They burped.  
  
Ryou stood up, flames surrounding him. Everybody backed away in fear.  
  
"THAT IS THE LAST STRAW!!!!" Ryou thundered. And with that, he grabbed the plate and...  
  
"Yugi, you grab the legs, I go for the arms," Malik instructed, and they tackled the insane Outkast.  
  
Marik watched with awe as Malik knocked Ryou out with a single punch.  
  
"...We shouldn't be here when he wakes up," Yugi said, looking worried. "He'll _explode_. Literally. Maybe we should go home."  
  
Malik shook his head. "This isn't one of our finer days, if I'm correct."  
  
Yugi rolled his eyes. "Obvious much?"  
  
"We shouldn't hang around _these_ people anymore."  
  
"It's not like we _want _to."  
  
Everyone blinked, except for Serenity.  
  
"Do they always talk as if there's no one around them?" Mai whispered to Serenity. "They're so weird! Are they always like this?"  
  
"They're like that sometimes." Serenity shrugged. "But you learn to love them. Even when half the time they're talking in freaky languages."  
  
Yugi turned to Yami. "Sorry, Yami, but we have to bring Ryou home before..." he looked around, "...before he kills someone," he finished lamely, but truthfully.  
  
Yami shot a look at Seto, who looked less-than-happy that there was a deranged kid in his house.  
  
"Or maybe we should let him stay here!" Malik said cheerfully. "That way he can kill Bakura and we can live happily ever after."  
  
Scratch that.  
  
_Two_ deranged kids.  
  
Yugi and Malik exchanged high-fives.  
  
Sorry, three deranged kids, one down, two to go.  
  
Yami stood up. "I'll drive you home," he volunteered. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief.  
  
Yugi shook his head. "I don't want to bother you..." Everybody panicked; nobody wanted deranged kids on the streets. Who knew how dangerous this people _were!?  
_  
"Oh, that's okay. Once you guys leave, Bakura will start singing again..." Yami rolled his eyes. "Maybe we _should_ leave Ryou here and let him kill Bakura. We'll be making the world a better place."  
  
Seto decided that Yami had also cracked. _Four deranged kids and his house. Scary combination._ The girls were giggling in the background, while Bakura had hidden behind Marik in fear.  
  
Yami took his car keys and left with the Outkasts; Malik carrying Ryou in a very careless fashion. Marik wondered if Ryou would come home in one piece the way Malik was carrying the kid; it was as if Ryou was a disposal toy doll. His counterpart was literally dragging Ryou with one hand.  
  
Weird.  
  
Once they heard the car leave, Bakura groaned.  
  
"My evil counterpart is scary," he said, huddling in fear. "He's an insane psychopath. An insane, cynical, antisocial psychopath. It's not safe in school anymore..."  
  
$$$  
  
"That was the worse Friday of my entire life!" Ryou groused, one Sunday afternoon. He and his friends were Rollerblading around the town park.  
  
"Oh, it was kinda fun," Malik said. "Until the part you started screaming. Making fun of those Jocks, especially yours and mine, was fun. Honestly. So, Yugi, was Yami easy to tutor?"  
  
Yugi sighed. "Not really. He's a little slow." He rolled his eyes. "But he's okay. We had another meeting yesterday. At least he was able to grasp two of the five things I was trying to teach him."  
  
"He's lucky you're really patient," Ryou growled. "He'd be dead by now if it was me."  
  
Malik rolled his eyes. "We're talking about Yami, not Bakura. You can never kill Yami. He's probably the nicest of our evil counterparts."  
  
"Probably because Yugi is the nicest one of us all."  
  
"Which means...my evil counterpart is the most evil of all!" Malik pretended to faint.  
  
Ryou rolled his eyes. "No way. My evil counterpart is the most evil, and that's it."  
  
"Nu uh!"  
  
"You should finally admit that **I am** the most evil in the Outkasts, and I have the most evil counterpart." Ryou shot Malik a triumphant look.  
  
"That's unfair! Besides, I bet if you provoked my counterpart, he'd be worse than yours!"  
  
"No way!"  
  
"I am more evil!"  
  
"No, I am!"  
  
"I am!"  
  
"I am!"  
  
Yugi decided to change the subject, before Malik and Ryou began bickering again. "Look! Ice cream and hotdogs! What do you guys want?"  
  
Malik and Ryou grinned, momentarily forgetting their argument, and they said in unison, "both!"  
  
Yugi laughed. "Let's have hotdogs first...I don't like skating while eating hotdogs. With ice cream it's okay."  
  
They quickly walked up the counter and bought hotdogs; Malik putting everything, from ketchup to cheese on his dog.  
  
"You'll get a stomachache, Malik," Ryou said, eyeing his hotdog with concern. "Be careful."  
  
"That's okay, I can handle it," Malik said brightly, and he began eating his hotdog.  
  
Yugi sighed. "You know Malik. His stomach is a bottomless pit, and the strongest part of his body. You can feed him coal and he'll digest it just fine."  
  
They laughed.  
  
"Well, there are certain advantages to it," Malik chirped brightly.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like, I can eat two kinds of food that don't mix well and it won't ruin my stomach." Malik smirked, and finished his hotdog. "Hurry up, I wanna get ice cream."  
  
"Your fault," Ryou retorted. "You should have eaten slower."  
  
"Want me to eat yours?"  
  
"No way!"  
  
Yugi laughed, and finished his hotdog. "Less talk, more eating, Ryou. We're both done."  
  
Ryou pouted, and ate his hotdog really _slowly_.  
  
"Ryou!!"  
  
Slower.  
  
"HIDOI!!!"  
  
_Sloooooowwwweeerrr._  
  
"Want me to eat that for you?" Malik asked sarcastically.  
  
Ryou grinned, and popped the rest of his hotdog into his mouth in one go. "All done, gentlemen."  
  
Yugi poked Ryou in the stomach, then they went to get their ice cream.  
  
"Well, at least this is taking our minds of our evil counterparts," Malik mused. "I haven't encountered mine since Friday, thank God."  
  
"Neither have I," Ryou said brightly. "Looks like Fate has decided to leave us alone."  
  
Yugi opened his mouth to speak, when he spotted something very familiar. "Guys...I think we spoke too soon."  
  
They all turned to see the three dreaded Jocks walking up to the ice cream place where they had bought their food.  
  
"Oh man...turn back, turn back," Malik said abruptly. "I don't want to see them."  
  
"Do we look like we want to see them too?" Ryou said sarcastically. At that moment, he lost balance, and nearly went toppling straight into Bakura.  
  
The three guys were obviously surprised at seeing them. Yami and Marik had looks of incredulity on their faces, while Bakura had a face that said _'deranged madman at six o'clock.'_  
  
"Ryou!" Yugi cried out, and he and Malik skated over to the three Jocks. Ryou had fallen into Bakura's arms, but—**thank goodness**—his ice cream was unharmed. Yugi and Malik heaved sighs of relief.  
  
"Good thing it's okay," Malik said, looking at Ryou's ice cream.  
  
"Yeah, I'd kill you if it wasn't," Ryou muttered, forcing himself out of Bakura's arms and trying to steady himself. "My poor ice cream...if it had fallen..." _I would have killed him_, he added silently while glaring at Bakura.  
  
"Are you okay?" Yami asked concernedly—this just proved the Outkasts' theory that Yami was indeed the nicest one of them all. Yugi nearly danced in happiness since his Jock was the best of them all, and even if he was quite stupid, being nice made up for it.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryou said quickly. "Sorry about that." He slowly skated back to his friends, holding onto Malik to steady himself.  
  
"Good thing you didn't get any ice cream on Bakura," Marik said, laughing. "He's a clothing fanatic."  
  
Bakura glared at him, then raised an eyebrow at Ryou. "You Rollerblade?"  
  
"Yeah. So?" Ryou looked threatening, putting his hand on his hips. He had finally managed to steady himself, and was now ignoring the dripping ice cream on his hands.  
  
"Isn't it..." Bakura scrunched up his face, "...a _**girly activity**_?"  
  
_ Wrong move, Bakura._  
  
Yugi and Marik watched, torn between amusement and horror, as Ryou gritted his teeth and walked up to his evil Jock counterpart.  
  
Ryou scowled at Bakura, lifted his ice cream in the air...  
  
...and dumped it straight into Bakura's face.  
  
Needless to say, the ice cream dripped all over Bakura's clothes.  
  
The finishing touch was the cone; that looked a lot like his long Pinocchio nose.  
  
Yami and Marik were in shock, halfway torn between laughing their asses off and running away in fear from a slowly becoming furious Bakura.  
  
Ryou gave Bakura a grim smile, and brushed his hand over Bakura's shirt—his hand had gotten some ice cream on it. Bakura simply watched as more ice cream soiled his shirt.  
  
"I'm going to the fountain to clean my hands," he announced darkly to his friends, then stomped away. Everybody watching looked shocked; and somewhat amused, as there was twitching on their mouths.  
  
Bakura, however, was furious.  
  
"That's it!" he suddenly yelped, glaring daggers at Ryou's back. "I can take him shouting at me, I can take him ignoring me, I can take him acting all cynical, and Mr. High and Mighty to me, I can take him threatening to kill me, but dumping ice cream on my face..." he took the cone out of his face and wiped his face with disgust, "...and ruining my clothes...he's gonna pay!"  
  
Yami, Marik, Yugi, and Malik watched in amazement as Bakura marched up to Ryou, who was washing his hands in the fountain...  
  
... and pushed Ryou into the fountain.  
  
"Ryou hates water," Malik said in a horrified voice. "This is not gonna end up pretty, people."  
  
"Shall we back away?" Yugi said in frightened voice.  
  
Malik nodded, and they dragged their evil counterparts a few feet away from the two enemies, where they could still see the fight, but still be completely safe.  
  
"Serves him right," Bakura said harshly, and was walking away from the fountain, when Ryou's hand shot up and dragged Bakura into the fountain with him.  
  
The four onlookers winced.  
  
"YOU...YOU...YOU BASTARD!" Ryou screeched, scowling at Bakura. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! UGGHHH!" He pushed Bakura down again, and quickly left the fountain, dripping wet. He stomped away without a backward glance to his friends.  
  
Yugi sighed. "Wait up, Ryou!"  
  
The two Outkasts quickly ran after their friend.  
  
Bakura, also dripping wet, finally surfaced from the fountain, choking. Yami and Marik walked up to him and pulled him out of the water. "I can't believe that guy!" he fumed, once he got all the water out of his mouth. "How dare he!"  
  
"Bakura..." Marik groaned. "It was your fault, you know."  
  
Bakura growled at them both. "I never wanna see that Outkast ever again!"  
  
"I doubt _he_ wants to see you again too," Yami said jokingly.  
  
Bakura scowled at him and dragged them both back to his house.  
  
$$$  
  
Eventually the two of them managed to catch up with Ryou, who was already halfway to his house.  
  
"Last week definitely didn't end right, and this week is totally not starting right," Malik said grumpily as they walked toward Ryou's house.  
  
Yugi nodded. "That's for sure."  
  
Ryou simply growled in response.  
  
Malik shook his head. "If we never see them again, it'll be too soon."  
  
"Got that right."  
  
Malik sighed. "And I have a very bad feeling...that it's not over."  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Ryou seems totally OOC in this chapter...but I'm sorta basing him on myself when I'm going evil and deranged on my classmates. Yup, I've done that ice cream thing to someone once, and the plate thing...except my friends tackled me before I could kill anyone.  
  
Besides, in lots of fics Ryou seems so damn weak, and he's my fave character along with Malik, so he can't be weak, since I hate writing about weak characters.  
  
I like portraying him that way, so take it or leave it. :grins:  
  
Besides, I like insane people.  
  
Oh, and a note to SaturnSerenity4ever: Yes, I know it's spelled that way. I'm simply basing this story in a book I've read, and it was spelled that way, as in Outkast. It seemed much cooler than simply outcast, and there's really something more to it, you just have to keep on reading. (Actually, I just spoiled you with those powers thing...it has something to do with the Outkast name)  
  
R&R! 


	5. One Week Curse

**Learning and Losing**  
  
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...   
  
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.  
  
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**Chapter Five: One Week Curse  
**  
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_**...Monday...**_  
  
An angry Ryou blindly shoved people past one Monday morning. He was still annoyed by yesterday's encounter with that Jock.  
  
_ Stupid, stupid, stupid... _He pushed another person walking by, and that person resulted into hitting the wall.  
  
"Hey, watch it, kid!"  
  
Ryou ignored him. Soon, he was able to reach his locker without much trouble (he had pushed seven guys, punched one locker and thrown his bag straight into the wall) and he opened it.  
  
Unfortunately, he didn't notice another person standing in front of his locker.  
  
"OUCH!"  
  
Ryou turned to the glare at whoever was dumb enough to be standing in front of his locker, when he realized...  
  
..._Bakura Ryou_ standing _in front _of his _locker_.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here!?" he hissed, looking at him in absolute shock.  
  
Bakura gave him a haughty look. "I'm your locker partner, dolt. I got moved here, because I ruined another locker and scared the hell out of my previous locker partner. Teachers think you can keep me in line."  
  
Ryou swore, then walked away angrily from Bakura.  
  
_**...Tuesday...**  
_  
Ryou's music lesson was over, and he was making his way to the outside of school. Unfortunately, a couple of people thought it would be hilarious to block the front door today, so he was making his way to the back door of the school, thanks to those morons.  
  
_ Stupid idiots,_ he screamed in his mind. _How dare they help in ruining this already ruined week? I'll track them down and kill them all!!!  
_  
He now reached what he assumed was the back door. He opened it.  
  
And then he felt all the color drain from his face.  
  
Wonderful.  
  
He had gone into the wrong room.  
  
_ The boys locker room._  
  
Needless to say, people from various teams were cleaning themselves up. And most of them had raised their eyebrows at the sight of a puny, little, non-musclebound, effeminate person enter the locker room.  
  
Ryou felt his cheeks heat up, and hurriedly ran out of the room...  
  
...only to bump into someone going into the room.  
  
"Watch where you're going!"  
  
"Gomen na-" he opened his eyes and he nearly groaned.  
  
Bakura.  
  
Again.  
  
Bakura blinked, then he smirked. "Didn't expect to see _you_ to be coming out of the locker room."  
  
Ryou's blush deepened, then he ran away, hating his life more than ever.  
  
**_...Wednesday..._**  
  
Ryou slumped into his chair. He had changed classes again, and this time, Yugi and Malik weren't his classmates. Suffice to say, he was completely alone in that class, sitting at the front, trying to think clearly with people talking to one another, and seething about how his life sucked.  
  
At that moment someone sat next to him. "What are you doing here?" he recognized that voice.  
  
Ryou nearly screamed in shock.  
  
Bakura.  
  
_ Again!!!!  
  
**...Thursday...**  
_  
"All right, class," the teacher said brightly to them. "Settle down. Yesterday, one of our top three joined this Art class of ours. Now, I decided that since Mr. Ryou here probably won't know anyone in this class, your seatmate will be your partner for the rest of the semester."  
  
Ryou raised his hand. "May I be excused?"  
  
"Er...yes, Ryou-kun," the teacher said, looking confused. "But-"  
  
Ryou ran out of the room, headed straight for the boys bathroom, and started screaming profanities at the toilet seat.  
  
**_...Friday...  
_**  
Ryou nearly danced in happiness as soon as the bell rang. He bolted out of his class and ran out to be free, free, _free!!!!_  
  
He had even asked his music teacher to excuse him from practice today. He didn't want to take any chances. He never wanted to see that idiot Jock ever again!  
  
"Maybe I should hide underneath my bed," he murmured. "That way I won't encounter that stupid Bakura..." then his stomach growled.  
  
He groaned.  
  
He had purposely avoided the cafeteria in fear of meeting up with that Jock again. "I guess I should stop to get a burger or something..."  
  
So he ran for the nearest burger restaurant. When he had finally seated and ordered, he heard the front door open and a couple of voices floated in the air.  
  
"Really, Bakura? That is so _strange_!" he heard a girl squeal.  
  
He didn't wait for anymore. Once Bakura and the people he was with were seated, he ran out of the restaurant, completely forgetting his burger.  
  
_**...Saturday...**_  
  
Ryou lingered around the mall, feeling completely listless and furious at his life. He hardly had any time to see his friends. So they decided to meet up. They were supposed to meet up in the mall at two o'clock. He got there early to get some of his shopping done.  
  
"It's official. This is the worst week of my life," he said to himself. Then he heard some music playing near some music store.  
  
He felt a smile light his face up. Music always made him feel better. As he made his way to the music store, he accidentally bumped into someone.  
  
_PLEASE DON'T BE BAKURA!_ His mind screamed. _PLEASE!_  
  
"Oh no, not you **_again_**!"  
  
Ryou bit his lip, and then made his way out of the mall, running. He was just going to call his friends and tell them he couldn't come because he was cursed.  
  
_**...Sunday...**_  
  
Ryou was now afraid to even come out of his room. Literally.  
  
But he desperately needed to clear his head, and being in his apartment—which he had left in shambles—didn't exactly soothe him.  
  
He hadn't been able to clean his house at all. He hadn't been able to talk to his friends, and he had been having nervous breakdowns in fear of seeing Bakura again. He was a wreck, to sum it all up.  
  
"Inhale, exhale," he told himself, trying to calm down his nerves. "You won't see him today. You won't see him today, you won't..."  
  
"Ah shit, it's that Outkast!"  
  
Ryou recognized that voice, and he wasn't sticking around to see that guy anymore. He turned and fled.  
  
**_...Monday...  
_**  
Yugi was in the arcade one Monday afternoon. He and his friends didn't have any classes with one another, so he hadn't been able to see them all day. Thanks to Yami, his schedule had just gotten more hectic.  
  
The teachers literally switched all his classes to match Yami's!!!  
  
Not that he was complaining—  
  
Who was he kidding?  
  
He was damn furious at those teachers. They were ruining his life!  
  
His almost nonexistent life, which now was a _ruined_,**_ completely nonexistent_** life!  
  
"Uh...Yugi?"  
  
He turned around to see Yami standing in front of him. He realized he was holding up a line in the game he was playing, in which he had scored 0 and had been GAME OVER five minutes ago.  
  
His cheeks began to feel hot, then he hurriedly apologized, and then he ran out of the arcade.  
  
**...Tuesday...**  
  
Yugi was hauling a bucket of water that his teacher asked him to bring. Privately, Yugi thought the guy was in league with all the other people in the world, bent on ruining his life.  
  
Damn them.  
  
He finally reached the third floor. After breathing a sigh of relief, he started to continue on to the office of his teacher, which was on the other side of the building.  
  
Halfway there, he accidentally tripped on his shoelaces (_Curse these damn shoes!_) and the bucket of water he was carrying went flying away.  
  
**SPLASH!**  
  
He hurriedly looked up to see if anyone got wet.  
  
He nearly stopped breathing when he saw the scene in front of him.  
  
A Yami with a bucket on his head, wet from head to toe. Looking less- than-happy. The aforementioned Yami took the bucket off his head and held it out to Yugi.  
  
"OHMIGOSH, I am so sorry!!!" he squeaked, and took the bucket from Yami.  
  
Yami's eye twitched a little.  
  
Yugi was feeling stupid. _Great. Now I have to go back down to get water again..._  
  
**_...Wednesday...  
_**  
After a fun class about poetry, Yugi made his way toward his favorite ice cream parlor, feeling a lot better after the past day's fiascoes.  
  
Poor Yami...he always got the raw deal in all those coincidences so far.  
  
When he reached the ice cream parlor, he ordered his favorite flavor—vanilla—then turned around.  
  
Unfortunately, when he spun around after getting his ice cream cone, somebody bumped into him, making him drop the cone into that person.  
  
"Sorry!" Yugi apologized immediately, and he grabbed a fistful of tissues and handed it to the person. When he looked up, he nearly froze like a statue.  
  
Fate _was_ out to get him.  
  
Yami stood in front of him, looking appalled.  
  
"I am so, so sorry," he repeated slowly, feeling very, very stupid.  
  
"It's okay," Yami said, his left eye twitching. "Should I buy you another cone?"  
  
Yugi shook his head. "Never mind." Then he ran out of the ice cream parlor.  
  
_**...Thursday...  
**  
_ Yami had asked him to go watch his soccer game since they were having a tutor session after. Since he had been unable to locate neither Ryou nor Malik for quite a while, and had not spoken to anyone, he was decidedly frustrated that day. So when somebody actually paid him attention, he was actually grateful, so he accepted the invitation.  
  
Now, standing in the middle of the crowd, seeing insane females cheering his tutoree on, and having people jostle him around like he was a bug, and having the smell of popcorn, peanuts, and sweat wafting through the air...  
  
...he was starting to regret agreeing to come to this.  
  
Soon, the game finally ended (_HURRAH!!!_) and everybody made their way down to the field, running to congratulate their schoolmates in doing so well.  
  
Yugi slowly made his way down, feeling completely annoyed at his life. He couldn't have cared more or less if they won or not, just that Yami got his grades up, and his life would finally go back to normal. Yup, no more Yami, more of his friends, no more sucky sport games...which seemed to be the exact opposite of his life right now.  
  
To top it all off, a few million girls stepped over him—literally—to get to the soccer team members. Since he was quite short, he was literally nonexistent, so he got stepped over, run over, steamrollered, bulldozed and completely muddy by the time Yami found him (surprisingly alive).  
  
"You okay?" he asked anxiously, helping him up to his feet and handing a towel to him.  
  
Yugi felt like strangling this Jock, for asking such a stupid question. What did the guy expect?! "I'm fine," he gritted out. "Let's just get on with this."  
  
**_...Friday...  
_**  
Ahh...the sweet silence of the library.  
  
Yugi had ran to the this place, to this sanctuary, during lunch time. Just to avoid seeing Yami. Coincidences with that Jock often ended up with one of them looking stupid. Most of the time, he was the one who did.  
  
As he sat down, reading a lovely book about Earth Science and Geology, he heard a couple of people whistling. "Yeah! The librarian's out!"  
  
"Let's mess up the library!"  
  
Yugi nearly screamed in frustration, when he realized a couple of Jocks and other popular people had gone trooping to the library to completely mess it up.  
  
_ Should I stop them?_ He thought idly.  
  
"Guys...I don't think I should really get in trouble now," a familiar voice spoke up. "I mean-"  
  
Yugi knew that voice, and he knew that if he encountered that person again, he would go mad. So he shot out of the library, not even caring if people got mad at him for running.  
  
**_...Saturday..._  
**  
Yugi walked about the mall at two o'clock in the afternoon. He and his friends had decided to meet up today, since they hardly had any time to themselves. But as he searched around for them in the meeting place—the bookstore—he was quite sure they were not there.  
  
He sighed. "Guess I should call them..." he was fumbling about in his bag for his cell phone when someone accidentally pushed a bookshelf, and that certain bookshelf was in danger of hitting him.  
  
"Watch out!" he turned around to see the bookshelf towering over him, in danger of falling on him.  
  
Before he could open his mouth and scream, someone suddenly grabbed him and dragged him out of the way.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Yugi said, panting. He looked up to realize his savior was Yami.  
  
_ Wonderful.  
_  
Yami gave him a small smile. "You seem to be a magnet for weird."  
  
"Tell me about it," Yugi muttered underneath his breath. He nodded to him, then walked out of the bookstore—not caring if he didn't meet his friends anymore.  
  
_**...Sunday...**  
_  
By Sunday, Yugi felt like doing a Ryou and start grousing about how much this week sucked. If they thought last week was terrible, this week was a nightmare from hell.  
  
He had barely seen his friends, he kept seeing Yami, and he kept getting into stupid accidents.  
  
The gods were probably laughing their asses off at him right now.  
  
He hoped Ryou and Malik had a much better week than him.  
  
So, here he was, in front of Yami's house, waiting for that Jock to answer the door and let him in.  
  
He rang the doorbell again.  
  
"Yugi! You're here!"  
  
Yugi bit his lip from retorting, "Yeah, Yami. I _am _here. Woo-hoo." Instead he answered. "Yup."  
  
Yami went out to greet him, and then he led him inside his house.  
  
"Your house is...nice," Yugi said uncertainly, looking around. Yami was rich. Obviously. All of Yami's friends seemed to be rich. Especially Kaiba. But still. It was his first time in Yami's house—normally he tutored him in one of his friends' house.  
  
"Thanks. This is my room." Yami gestured to the large room in front of them.  
  
Yugi's eyes widened. He couldn't survive in a room like this. There were antiques everywhere! What if he broke something? These things were most probably priceless.  
  
Yami led Yugi to his desk table. "So, what are we studying today?"  
  
Yugi tried to give him a small smile. "Well..."  
  
He set his bag on the table, then accidentally knocked down a vase. It broke into pieces.  
  
Yugi nearly screamed. "I am so, so SORRY, Yami! I didn't mean to! Honestly! I..." Yami sighed and shook his head.  
  
"It's okay. Look, we might get hurt here, with all the broken pieces...mind if we go into the living room instead?"  
  
"Not at all," Yugi answered, feeling really dumb. He was starting to feel that he should have let Ryou take care of this. His musical friend wasn't a klutz like him.  
  
This week had definitely been his worst. No contest.  
  
_**...Monday...  
**_  
Malik was walking up the staircase, contemplating about yesterday. Personally, only Ryou had such a bad weekend—he had enjoyed his. And this week was promising to look better—what were the chances of seeing his Jock again?  
  
Suddenly he missed a step, and he braced himself for the impact of his knees getting bruised.  
  
But he didn't feel it.  
  
Instead he felt strong arms wrapped around him. He opened his eyes.  
  
His eyes widened.  
  
Life and it's ironies.  
  
"Oh...hi," Marik said to him sheepishly. The Jock was holding him in his arms.  
  
Malik nodded, pushed him away, then left his look-alike at the stairs.  
  
**_...Tuesday...  
_**  
Malik was making his way back home. Honestly, who's idea was it to live behind a cemetery?! Damn that woman! So everyday, he had to go around the entire side of town just to get to his house.  
  
His sister and her evil ways.  
  
So, as he turned to cross the street, he nearly got ran over by someone.  
  
"JERK!" he screamed at the guy. "This road is supposed to be unused!"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
Malik froze at the sound of the voice.  
  
Great.  
  
Marik again.  
  
Marik walked out of his car. "This road isn't unused, it's just that nobody likes passing through here because there are lots of thieves around here."  
  
"Hmph. So what are you doing here?" Malik challenged.  
  
"What are _you_ doing here?" Marik shot back, smirking.  
  
Malik glared at him. "This is my way home, you idiot."  
  
"But this leads behind the old cemetery."  
  
"That _is _where I live," Malik said pointedly.  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Yes way."  
  
"I knew you were a vampire!" Marik gloated, clapping his hands.  
  
Malik blinked. _Okay...it's official. My Jock is a weirdo._  
  
Marik stopped gloating, and gave him an apologetic grin. "Sorry about nearly running you over. Want a ride home?"  
  
Malik shot him a look. "Who are you and what have you done to the real, evil Jock I know?"  
  
"You're not making sense, you know."  
  
Malik sighed. "Whatever."  
  
After contemplating the chances of getting infected by stupidity, he got on the car and Marik drove him home.  
  
_**...Wednesday...  
**_  
After finding out that this semester, him and his friends only had one class together, an annoyed Malik made his way to the movie theater.  
  
He decided that when frustrated, take it out on watching gore, blood and violence. Yes, that was the proper approach to life.  
  
When he finally arrived there, he spotted an all-too-familiar blonde hair that was suspiciously standing up.  
  
Malik groaned, then deciding that he would just rent a video instead.  
  
_**...Thursday...  
**_  
After school, Malik decided that he was going to get pizza.  
  
So what's the relation?  
  
Absolutely nothing.  
  
Malik decided to get a pizza since he was hungry, and the soccer game was still ongoing, so the chances of meeting up with Marik was completely remote.  
  
However, Fate had other plans.  
  
The moment he entered the pizza parlor, the color nearly drained out of his face—all the Jocks and cheerleaders of their school were partying there.  
  
He had obviously gotten the wrong time of the soccer game, because it was over, and they had won.  
  
Before he could turn around and run out of the pizza parlor, he accidentally bumped into someone. The first thought that went through his head was _GERMS! GERMS! ALL SYSTEMS, ABORT! GERMS!_  
  
Malik fainted.  
  
Two hours later, he woke up in his house to find his sister telling him that someone who looked a lot like him had brought him home.  
  
Great. Just great.  
  
**_...Friday...  
_**  
The moment the bell rang, Malik nearly cried in happiness. It signified the end of the week, and that meant that he could start hiding inside his room, and never to come out until Monday.  
  
Perfect.  
  
Halfway to his house, however, it started raining. Malik started swearing to the clouds. "What is damn wrong with you, weather?!" he screeched. "Am I cursed or something?"  
  
A car drove up to him. "You probably are," it answered.  
  
Malik felt like strangling himself. "Nice to see you too, Ishtar."  
  
He sighed and turned to look at the smug dry in his car.  
  
"Need a lift?"  
  
"How many times have you brought me home already?" Malik asked sarcastically.  
  
"Twice," Marik answered, not batting an eyelid. "Why did you faint yesterday?"  
  
"It's none of your business." Malik turned, and started walking home again, when Marik got out of his car and dragged him in.  
  
"The hell-?!" he said, glaring at him, once he was thrown unceremoniously inside the car.  
  
"You're going to get sick," Marik said bluntly.  
  
"Like I care."  
  
"Geez, why are you so difficult? I try to be friendly and you act like this to me. Hey, if I didn't bring you home yesterday, you'd be home by nightfall already," Marik complained. "Why are you so mean to me?"  
  
Malik bit his lip. After all, he knew he wasn't being nice to the guy at all. Damn, the Jock was making him conscientious! "What if I don't want to be friends, you idiot?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Malik sighed, cursed mentally, then kept his mouth shut for the rest of the ride.  
  
_**...Saturday...  
**_  
After all the Marik encounters he had, Malik would have thought best to stay at home. But he and his friends had hardly seen each other for the entire week, and they had set up a meeting today at the mall, at two o'clock.  
  
It was only one thirty, but he had gone early to check out a dagger he wanted. Really wanted. It was beautiful, completely golden. It didn't look like a dagger. More like a rod with a sharp end.  
  
He had seen it in a magazine, and he fell in love with it right away. Of course, it was very expensive, but he was going to save up for it. He had never wanted anything like it.  
  
"Oh man, I hope it hasn't been bought yet," he whispered to himself.  
  
When he finally got to the store, he let out a sigh of relief. Yep, it was still there.  
  
His eyes widened when he saw the price tag on it. 50% off!  
  
But even with that discount, he still didn't have the money to buy it.  
  
He bit his lip. This was a great chance, but he definitely couldn't buy it. Not now.  
  
Damn!  
  
Here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he was unable to use it.  
  
"Do you like it?"  
  
Malik gasped and he spun around. He saw Marik smirking at him. "What?"  
  
"Do you like that dagger?" Marik repeated.  
  
Malik blushed.  
  
Marik's smile widened. "That's good enough for me."  
  
Malik watched in awe as Marik purchased the dagger. Jealousy flared up within him, but at least the person who would own it was someone he knew.  
  
But still.  
  
Life was so unfair.  
  
The thing his look-alike did next was totally unexpected.  
  
"Here," Marik said, handing him the dagger.  
  
Malik gaped at it. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Of course," Marik said. "Besides, I already have one of it."  
  
Malik was still in shock. "No...you're joking, right?"  
  
Marik laughed. "No, really. You can have it." Then he walked away.  
  
Malik decided to go home and start clearing his thoughts.  
  
_**...Sunday...  
**_  
Malik was walking around the park one day, still thinking about his Jock look-alike and the dagger. He had enclosed the dagger into a small case, and quickly hid it away. He was trying to block all thoughts that connected to Marik, but it didn't seem to be working.  
  
He thought back to the past few days, mainly that Friday afternoon when it had rained. Marik had asked him why couldn't they be friends.  
  
Why not?  
  
_ Because he's a Jock,_ he replied to his mind. _He's arrogant, selfish and stupid. Typical.  
_  
_ And I thought you didn't go by stereotypes,_ his mind chided him. _Isn't that what you are? An Outkast is someone who doesn't go by stereotypes. Why don't you give the guy a chance?  
_  
Malik bit his lip. He didn't know how to feel.  
  
After all, Marik seemed nice enough—well, a little stupid, but everyone had flaws—and he didn't seem like most Jocks who turned their noses up at people 'below' them.  
  
"Arrgghhh!" Malik groaned. "I have got to stop thinking!"  
  
So he climbed up a tree, and tried to clear his thoughts there. But even nature didn't help him get a decision.  
  
What would his friends say?  
  
Malik smiled slightly. Ryou would probably be totally against it, because of Bakura, (_That guy is a major jerk!_) and Yugi would probably tell him to give it a chance, because of Yami (_He's nice enough!_). What would he say? (_He's really stupid, but he's okay._)  
  
All three of them had different circumstances with their own Jocks.  
  
"So...what do I do?" he asked himself.  
  
Suddenly, a strong wind swept past the branch he was on, and he fell. He closed his eyes, half-hoping not to break anything.  
  
For the second time, he felt—instead of the hard ground—strong arms around him.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Malik closed his eyes. The object of his thoughts was right here. What to do...what to do...  
  
_ Give him a chance...  
_  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, and for the first time, he gave Marik a real smile.  
  
$$$  
  
Since I mainly concentrated on Ryou on the last chapter, this chapter was more Yugi and Malik centered. I'm not yet sure if this will be yaoi. I was going more of the 'friends' approach.  
  
It's not that I don't like the yami/hikari pairing, but I just wanted to make a different sort of story than the usual. Anyway, it's all up to you if you want it to be yaoi or not. In my opinion, I'd rather take more of the implied yaoi.  
  
R&R!  



	6. Second Chances

**Learning and Losing**

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**Chapter Six: Second Chances **

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The three friends, thankfully, found some free time to see one another on one bright Monday, during lunch. The trio chose to sit below the apple tree found just outside their cafeteria.

"You won't believe how awful **_this _**week was!" Ryou complained. "If I thought last week was bad, then this was _worse_! I kept seeing that Jock over and over again!"

"Me too!" Yugi interrupted indignantly. "I mean, Yami's nice, but enough is enough, for Pete's sake! I even freak at the sight of me in the mirror! I keep getting into these accidents, and I end up looking completely stupid!"

"They're ruining our lives!" Ryou added. The two turned to their other friend. "Malik? What about you?"

Malik rolled his eyes. "I kept seeing him everywhere—and I mean _everywhere_. He's brought me home thrice already."

"_WHAT?!?!_"

"I know. And I think my sister's found a liking for him—she's always inviting him to come in and have a snack," Malik grumbled. "I'm going to hate her for the rest of my life—not that I already don't, by the way." He scowled.

Yugi buried his face in his hands. "Are we cursed or something?"

"We probably are," Ryou said, looking totally annoyed. "Man...I'd rather face a hundred monsters than see Bakura ever again."

Malik shrugged. "Marik's okay, I guess...he's been a little nicer to me than before."

"He has?"

"Yeah. You know that ultimately cool dagger I wanted?"

"Yeah," the two answered.

"Well, I was staring at it again last Saturday, then he came up to me," Malik explained. "He asked if I wanted it, then he went and bought it for me."

"You're **_joking_**!" Yugi said, his eyes widened. "I can't imagine him doing something like that!"

"It's _true_," Malik insisted. "I didn't bring it today...it's under my bed, hidden away. For obvious reasons."

Ryou sighed. "Well, lucky you. My Jock does nothing but ruin my life...even Yugi's is much, much nicer."

Yugi grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, he is. I accidentally broke a priceless vase in his house..."

Malik gasped. "You're joking!"

"You did that?" Ryou mouth had fallen open. "And you're still alive?"

"I _know_," Yugi said, shaking his head. "Can you _imagine_?"

"Why, oh why, must I get the evil Jock?" Ryou wailed, looking up to the heavens. Then he smirked. "Well, at least this proves I'm the most evil."

"Excuse me?" Malik glared at him. "You are not!"

"Oh yeah?" Ryou raised his eyebrow tauntingly. "What's your proof?"

"Why you..."

Before Malik could jump up and strangle Ryou, Yugi came up with an idea to stop the fight. "Hey guys, wanna go see a movie today? We've hardly seen each other the past week, and none of you showed up in our meeting last Saturday," the two blushed and looked away, "so why don't we hang out today?"

"Um...I have plans with Marik," Malik said, looking away.

"Wha---?" The two turned to stare at their friend in amazement.

"Well...he asked!" Malik said defensively. "He asked me if I had plans today, and I said I wasn't sure, but probably not. Then he asked for my cellphone number, and I gave it to him. I didn't think we were going out today..."

"My god, Malik! You're _fraternizing_ with the enemy!" Ryou yelped.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "The _enemy_, Ryou? I think you're overreacting." Yugi sighed. "I didn't want to tutor Yami today...oh well."

"Sorry sorry sorry..." Malik was now biting his lip.

Ryou glared at him. "So what do you want me to do this afternoon? Hang out with Bakura?" He growled under his breath. "Then again...we still have that be-damned Art project to do..."

The brown-eyed boy stood up. "C'mon, let's go look for those idiots. That way we can finalize our plans for the afternoon..._apart_."

Malik grinned sheepishly. "I'll make up for it...promise!"

Yugi sighed. "Let's just get this over with." The three stood up. "Do we even know where they eat lunch?"

"Just look for the table that has a sign that says 'Idiots Anonymous' on it," Ryou said sardonically. The other two giggled at the insult.

The three went inside the cafeteria and easily spotted the popular table. It was obvious to anyone with keen senses that it was the table where popular students sat, and the center of attention.

The girls with sluttiest, sexiest and most fashionable clothes flocked around this table. Guys with muscular builds were also there. And let's not forget the fact that it was noisiest table, yet also the coolest in a strange sense.

Ryou raised his eyebrow. "Are you telling me we have to make our way to the center of this be-damned cafeteria just to talk to these three idiots?"

Yugi shrugged. "Looks like it."

"Unless you suggest we call out their names," Malik said dryly.

Ryou shook his head. "We are committing suicide here, people."

"What have we got to lose?" Yugi asked cheerfully. When his two friends shot him despairing looks, the smaller boy rolled his eyes. "Forget I asked. I don't want to know."

"Let's just do this," Malik said. Then, with a look that anyone would mistake for somebody running through a ring of fire blindfolded, the three trudged toward the center of the cafeteria, where the popular table was located.

As they passed, everyone literally fell silent.

Everyone turned to stare at them. The people fell back to let them pass.

"Parting of the Red Sea," Ryou murmured softly to Yugi and Malik. "Major deja vu here."

"Just ignore it," Yugi whispered back.

They finally reached the popular table.

"Uh...hi...?" Yugi started, smiling nervously at Yami.

Yami cracked a half-smile. "Hey."

Yugi relaxed slightly, while Malik and Ryou rolled their eyes.

Yugi fidgeted around. _Okay...so what happens next? _He thought, feeling a little panicked. Luckily, Yami came and saved him. "So...after classes? At Seto's house?"

Yugi nodded slightly. Then he poked his friends. "Say something," he hissed.

Ryou rolled his eyes, then looked pointedly at Bakura. "Hey, idiot."

Bakura glared at him. "Excuse me?"

Ryou ignored the remark. "Art project. Today. Where do you want to do it?"

Bakura bit his lip furiously, ready to punch the little albino brat—but he stopped himself. "My house. I'll see you in at the gate of the school later."

"Perfect," Ryou said, and he turned and left.

Malik sighed. "Great. World War III begins."

Yugi giggled. "Shall we get going, then?"

"I guess." Malik turned to Marik. "See ya."

"Huh?" the words just came out of Marik's mouth when the three Outkasts disappeared into the crowd.

"Arrogant little brat," Bakura spat out. "I'm going to lock him up in the closet when we get there."

"Why don't you try being friendly to him?" Mai spoke up. "He seems nice enough."

"Oh really?" Bakura said sarcastically. "You have proof of that?"

Tea shrugged. "Like that time in Algebra class when I didn't know what I was doing."

"Huh?" Yami blinked.

"He leaned over and explained the formula to me," Tea explained. "He's very nice. And he explains really well. I got a high grade in that test."

Yami nodded. "They do seem nice...Yugi's very patient with me."

"Well, he broke a priceless vase in your house," Seto broke in, looking annoyed. "Klutz."

"It was an accident," Yami snapped, getting frustrated. Why was Seto so cranky? He had been acting like this ever since Friday. "You're just annoyed since Joey isn't talking to you."

Seto's eyes flashed, then he stood up. "I have to go to the library." Then he walked away.

"Well...you jumped to that Outkast's defense in a millisecond," Bakura remarked, eyes glinting.

Yami glared at him. "Well, you knew it was an accident. Seto's just been so irritable the past few days."

"That's true," Marik commented. "Just be glad you didn't start fighting."

Mai looked at Yami. "You two haven't been getting along well the past few days."

"Joey is Yami's partner in English," Bakura explained shortly.

"Ahh..." Tea nodded, understanding Seto's frostiness. "Typical."

"What about you, Marik?" Mai turned to the blond boy. "Having troubles with your Outkast?"

"Yeah," Yami chimed in, frowning. "What did the 'see ya' mean?"

Marik grinned sheepishly. "I asked him if he wanted to hang out today," he admitted. "He was nice about it. He told me he wasn't sure they had plans, so I asked for his number. I guess it meant he could hang out."

"Since his two other friends are busy, I suppose," Tea considered. She turned to Bakura. "You and Ryou are partners in Art?"

"Yeah," Bakura said sourly. "I entered the class to see the brat sitting next to my usual seat. Then sensei got the ridiculous idea of having seatmates be partners. End of story."

"Just give him a second chance," Yami said, rolling his eyes. "Ryou seems likeable enough."

"Besides, you guys got to a rocky start because you kicked a soccer ball to his face," Marik reminded him.

"It was an accident!" Bakura snapped.

"Then you started singing like a tone-deaf idiot," Mai added. She stopped. "No, wait. You _are_ a tone-deaf idiot."

Bakura's eye twitched.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Wow! This is _your_ house?" Ryou marveled, looking at Bakura's house in amazement. He wished he had eight more eyes—the place was **_marvelous_**. Magnificent, actually. Sprawling pillars, beautiful gardens, glistening white walls...it was almost like a fairy-tale castle. He so wanted to stop and just sketch the place. It was really beautiful.

"Yeah," Bakura answered curtly, looking bored. Truth be told, he didn't like his house. He did his best not to stay in it—he spent his afternoons at Seto's, dinner at Yami's, and had occasionally sleepovers at Marik's. He just didn't like the house. It was

Everywhere, servants where all looking up, quite surprised to see the young master home so early—and with an effeminate look-alike boy in tow. Bakura rarely invited people over his house, much less a stranger; the only people who had seen his house were Yami, Marik and Seto. Not even Mai and Tea entered his house.

"Lucky bastard," Ryou commented. "Having a mansion like this."

Bakura clenched his fists. This little brat was really asking for a punch. He _knew_ that the boy would be astonished at his house, and he thought he had finally one-upped the kid. But _noooo_. The guy just had to have the last word, didn't he?

"Do you live alone?" the boy's soft voice cut his thoughts.

"Yes," Bakura replied shortly. "Now can you stop asking questions?"

Ryou blinked at the tone of voice the other boy was using. He was obviously annoyed enough, and Ryou decided to keep quiet. After all, there were plenty of things to keep them busy. The hallway they were passing by was filled with beautiful paintings and priceless antiques...it was almost like a museum. If Ryou was given the chance, he would have stopped and tried to sketch the various artworks around him, just begging to be drawn.

"Don't touch anything," Bakura added darkly. "I wouldn't want you to break anything."

The smaller boy glared at him. "I'm not a klutz."

"Oh really? Well, your friend seems to be," Bakura countered blandly.

Ryou's eye twitched. _I'm going to kill this guy after our Art project_, he promised to himself, evilly plotting how to chop the guy's head off. Or which shark to feed the idiot to. Should it be Cuddles, Precious...maybe even Donut...

However, while thinking, Ryou accidentally stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately for him, Bakura had very quick reflexes, and he was able to catch the boy, out of instinct.

"You're not a klutz?" Bakura said, smirking at him. "Well...is clumsy a better word?"

Ryou growled under his breath. "I was thinking."

"Well, don't think while you're here then," Bakura responded, helping him up. "You might just break something."

"That'll be such a loss," Ryou shot back sarcastically. "So where do we work, wise guy?"

"I'd rather in my room," Bakura answered coolly. "It's the only place I can actually tolerate in here."

Ryou opened his mouth to ask why, but quickly closed it. There was no point asking; Bakura wouldn't answer him, and it was none of his business.

Bakura noticed the boy's stop to his unending curiosity, and the other was quite grateful for that. He rarely discussed his life to anybody else, and he wasn't going to start now.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

"Your house is so...huge!" Malik said, looking up so high he was sure he would break his neck. "Wow! And you live here all alone?"

"Yeah," Marik answered carelessly. "A little smaller than the others but–"

"You're joking!" Malik shot him a look. "I know Seto's house is bigger, but he does have a little brother and a company, so he's entitled to it. But you consider this small? Man, Yugi hasn't exactly mentioned to us Yami's _mansion_ the past few days!"

"You just didn't ask," Marik said, smirking. "C'mon, let's go in."

As they passed by, servants bowed at them, with smiles on their faces, though Malik suspected it was more than respect—how often do you see two people who look alike but aren't related?

"So...where are your parents?" Malik asked softly as they made their way to Marik's room. It was almost like a maze—even with his photographic memory, it wasn't easy to remember the twists and turns. "My gosh...how many rooms does this house have?"

"Sixty-one," Marik answered easily. "Bathrooms and servants' rooms included in the count."

"Ahh..." Malik nodded, respect written all over his face. "Parents?"

"Egypt."

"Why?" Malik stopped to raise an eyebrow at the taller boy.

"My father owns some companies there," explained Marik. "I could hardly care, though. I'm sure he expects me to take over his corporation when I grow up, but I'm not up for that."

"Did you grow up in Egypt?"

"Yeah, until I turned eight." Marik smirked at him. "I never really liked it there."

"So...you must have Egyptian blood in you," Malik concluded. "Considering your last name...and your features."

"Yes, on my father's side. My mom got bored of all the sand, and insisted we move back to Japan, since it was her hometown." Marik stopped at a door and opened it. "My room."

Malik gasped. Marik's room was...he didn't know how to describe it. There was a beautiful rug on the floor, and the bed was large, and there were plenty of artifacts that were obviously from Egypt. Everything was neat and clean, and it was so...so grand.

"This is probably Yugi's grandfather's dream come true," he murmured, still awestruck. He made his way to the bed and flopped onto it. "Wow! It's so soft! And bouncy!"

Marik laughed and sat next to him. "Yugi's grandfather?"

"He's an archeologist," Malik explained, looking around the room. "This is so cool...are taking pictures allowed?" They both laughed at his comment.

"So I suppose you're Egyptian too?" Marik asked suddenly. "I mean..."

Malik nodded. "Both of my parents are from Egypt. But when they died," Malik's eyes dimmed slightly, "my sister thought it would be better if we moved here. After all, most of our relatives moved here." He looked up, with forced cheerfulness. "I never found out what they liked about Japan, though."

"When did you move here?"

"I was ten," Malik whispered quietly. "I was going to this school...kids everywhere seemed to think I was a great bully magnet." He smirked lightly. "What a wrong impression."

"So when did you meet the other Out—I mean, Yugi and Ryou?" Marik amended quickly, slightly blushing.

Malik turned away and smiled. "Same school. The bullies decided to do a group bullying—with us three as the target. Well, I never told them I took martial arts, didn't I? I kicked their asses so hard they nearly kissed the moon. Yugi and Ryou were shocked, and Ryou asked me if I was a bully too. I told them no, and then we started hanging out. Then I found out they were the top two of the school, I vowed to be in it too. And things turned out this way."

"Wow," Marik commented, looking surprised. "I thought you guys met in some geek school, where everybody was a major warfreak, and got together in some strange, bizarre way."

"Bet you half my money Bakura was the one who came up with that," Malik teased, and they both laughed.

"Well, he didn't exactly mention it, but I suppose he thought of it," Marik said, smirking. "So...what do you want to do now?"

"Do you have any chocolate?"

Marik stood up. "Do I? Come with me, and I'll show you the largest supply of chocolate any teenager could have. Yup, it's larger than Mokuba's."

Malik grinned. "Perfect. I have a major sweet tooth—and my friends forever consider my stomach made of steel. I can eat anything."

Marik raised his eyebrow. "Care to prove that?"

"Try me."

"Then I suggest you and I go meet my refrigerator," Marik said teasingly, and they both made their way out of the room.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

_Majorly uncomfortable silence here, _Yugi told himself as he and Yami sat silently side by side. He looked on this situation discretely.

Mai and Tea were quietly talking to one another, sending occasional glances at Seto. The sullen boy was glaring at him and Yami—the taller boy more specifically. They were obviously fighting—or at least having a little skirmish. And Yami wasn't helping. The aforementioned boy had his eyes narrowed on the other, looking like a hungry predator combating another predator.

"So...care to take up polynomials?" Yugi asked with forced cheerfulness. That subject was ultimately easy, he and his friends had passed it with flying colors. He had a great liking for algebra. "Multiplying?"

Yami had the courtesy to stop glaring at Seto to nod quickly at him.

"Mmm..." Yugi mirrored his nod, then took out his Algebra book. This was freshmen stuff, but, being sophomores, they naturally took up a review of what they learned last year. "Let's begin with the general rule of multiplying." He began explaining the basics to Yami, then gave him an easy exercise. Yami was able to get it quickly enough, but he was obviously disinterested.

"Hey, Yugi. Can you give Yami a break there?" Tea asked, smiling at him. "I mean, I don't think he's really listening."

_You noticed? _Yugi thought to himself dryly. "Oh really?"

Yami shot a withering glance at Tea, and Tea glared at him. "Well, you weren't!"

Mai stood up. "It's too stuffy in here—Seto, would you mind if we hit the pool?"

Seto just tossed his head lightly to the side.

"Thought so," Mai said, smirking. "Coming, Yami?"

Yami turned to Yugi. "Uh..."

Yugi nodded stiffly. "Sure." He wondered if he should just evaporate right now—it was _wwaaaaayy_ too uneasy.

"Great!" Tea jumped up, and grabbed Yugi's arm. "Leave the books for now—you should take breaks every now and then. Loosen up."

Yugi blinked at the comment, but was unable to say anything, because he was promptly dragged away to the basement of Seto's house.

"Well, that was uncomfortable," Mai declared, once they were in the confines of the ground floor. "Yami...why don't you make up with Seto already?"

Yami raised his eyebrow.

"You're roping us all in this little argument," Tea added. "Right, Yugi?"

Yugi shrugged nervously. He hated situations like this.

"Bet you're wondering why they're fighting right now," Mai said, smirking. "Want us to tell you?"

Yami glared at them. "Can you just leave him alone? It's not like he needs to know anything about it, okay?"

"Well, you're touchy," Tea said teasingly, rolling her eyes. "Stop obsessing over it. If you'd just let it go, then we wouldn't be gossiping about it right now."

"Well, gossiping about it wouldn't help either, wouldn't it?" Yami asked sarcastically. When the two scowled darkly at him, the taller boy groaned. "Ugh...I don't even know why we're arguing! This is completely stupid."

"Right..." Mai shook his head. "If you knew that, then why aren't you apologizing?"

"Because it's not my fault!"

"You're just too stubborn..."

"Um...I think I left something upstairs," Yugi interrupted before they could start bickering like crazy. This was weirder than Ryou and Malik arguing over whom was more evil. Besides, he didn't even know why Kaiba and Yami were quarelling, and he wasn't too eager to find out, either. He smiled apologetically at them before racing upstairs and returning to the living room, where Kaiba was staring darkly at his computer screen.

"Uh...Kaiba-san...I forgot something," he explained hastily. Then he walked up to the table where he and Yami were previously discussing polynomials and started stuffing his books into his bag.

"Are you good in Computer Science?" Kaiba asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Yugi blinked.

"I'm making a new advertisement idea," the other boy explained smoothly. "I hate leaving such things to other people. They never come out the way I wanted."

"That keeps you very busy then," Yugi commented politely.

"I suppose," Kaiba continued casually. "Care to help?"

Yugi smiled sheepishly. "That's more of Malik's expertise. But I do know a few things..." He walked over to the computer and took the seat the brown-haired boy offered.

_Back to the pool grounds..._

"Thanks a lot," Yami told Mai and Tea darkly. "I bet Yugi's left already—thanks to you two."

"What did we do?" Tea asked defensively.

"You started asking him really stupid questions," Yami snapped. "Then you began making him feel totally out of place. Smart idea there."

"Well, you're not exactly helpful yourself," Mai retorted. "If you and Seto weren't fighting, we wouldn't be dealing with this right now."

"So you're saying it's my fault?"

"If the shoe _fits_!"

Yami glared at them, then made his way out of the pool. He could hear the two following him. He couldn't help but feel so frustrated.

It wasn't his fault! Joey didn't come up to him and ask to be his partner. They were put together by the teacher! Seto was just an unfair idiot who let his jealousy get in the way of companionship. They weren't even friends, really. But was he willing to terminate their half-assed association just for another person? Well then, Seto was the moron Yami didn't think he was.

He had finally reached the upper floor and was about to go for the front door when he passed by the living room. He literally stopped in his tracks, dropping his bag with a thud.

Since when did Yugi and Seto become _friends_?!

He narrowed his eyes slightly. The two were discussing something about the computer, no doubt, since they were obviously doing something on the computer. Seto had a surprised look on his face, probably amazed at Yugi's knowledge of computers. Yugi was talking in an almost trance-like way, not noticing the respect written all over the taller boy's face.

Like when Yugi was tutoring him...the boy seemed to continue talking, unmindful if he was listening or nothing.

He glared angrily at the Seto's back. _If looks could kill..._ he thought darkly. _You'd be dead by now. _

He grabbed his bag again and walked out of the door.

And all the time he was driving home, he just couldn't stop picturing them together. And all the time that certain scene flashed by, he could feel a mixture of emotions rising within his chest, making him feel a new emotion altogether.

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He couldn't help but feel so furious—he wanted to rip something apart so badly. At the same time, he could feel a bit of sadness accompanying his anger.

He and Joey weren't friends. And Seto and Yugi didn't _deserve _to be friends. Seto was a worm—he could vouch for that. And he knew, he _knew_, that Seto was doing this just to thwart him. Seto didn't care the least bit for Yugi—and Yami didn't care if right now he was acting like some jealous boyfriend. He just _knew_ that on normal circumstances that the two of them would never converse with one another. Ever. Just like him and Joey. They would not talk except for this project. Seto was such a green-eyed monster—and he was getting back at him.

"If that's how you want to play, fine," Yami murmured to himself darkly. "But don't expect me not to play the same way."

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

OMG!!! So many people reviewed!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I was totally taken aback by the amount of reviews in just a short amount of time. Anyway, when I planned to post this, our stupid computer went wacko and deleted all my files (all those Naruto/Sasuke videos!!! NOOOOOO!!!!), including this fic. So I had to rewrite it all over again, revised some parts, blah blah blah.

I hope you'll like this chapter too.

R&R!


	7. Change of Heart

**Learning and Losing **

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**Chapter Seven: Change of Heart **

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Yugi was on his bed that Monday evening, toying slightly will the small teddy bear Ryou had given him for Christmas. There were no classes tomorrow, and he desperately wanted to hang out with his friends.

"Yugi! Dinner!" He heard his grandfather call.

"Coming, Grandpa!" He yelled, and he jumped off his bed, dropping the teddy bear. Then he rushed down the stairs.

"I made your favorite," his grandfather said heartily, smiling. He gestured to the small feast in front of him; with a lasagna dish right in front of his seat. "Take a seat, Yugi."

He nodded. "Thanks, Grandpa. You know I love lasagna." He sat down, and they began eating.

After several minutes of silence, Yugi voiced his opinions hesitantly.

"Grandpa...do you mind if I invite Ryou and Malik for a sleepover tomorrow? We don't have classes, anyway," he added hastily.

His grandfather smiled. "Of course, Yugi. Who am I to stop you? After all, you've been working very hard in school. You tutor someone now, don't you?"

"Yes..." the thought of Yami brought an uneasy feeling over him. After he and Kaiba had discussed a bit about computers, Mai and Tea had come rushing in to ask if they had seen Yami. He had shrugged, but Kaiba had a strange look on his face—he didn't like it one bit.

He was wondering if he should go and call Yami—truth be told, he was a little worried. He knew nothing about the other boy, but he couldn't help but wonder; after all, Yami wasn't the typical Jock. He had proved that the past week. He just didn't know if he was _worse_ than the typical Jock, or _better_.

"So…how's he doing right now? Improving?"

"A bit," he answered softly. "…I'm really not that hungry, Grandpa. Can I go to sleep now?" To convince his grandfather, he spooned it several more of the food, then dropped his spoon.

"Still not used to using spoons, is that it?" His grandfather asked. "Sorry that I force you to use them. It's just that I haven't used chopsticks so much…ever since I went to Egypt…"

Yugi nodded demurely.

"Well, there's no point forcing you to eat if you're not hungry!" He said, with obviously forced cheerfulness. "Off to bed then, Yugi!"

He smiled, then left the dinner table, feeling guilty. After his grandfather had left for Egypt two years ago, Yugi had taken care of the house himself. He had just returned a few months ago; just as sophomore year started. The distance between them had grown so much. Before, Yugi had been very attached to his grandfather. Now…it was as if they didn't know each other anymore. In fact, he didn't feel comfortable being in the same room with him. It made him feel ashamed of himself.

Yugi shook off the feeling of shame and promised himself that he would try to close the growing gap between them next time. As for now, he really _needed_ to talk to Malik and Ryou.

Once he reached his room, Yugi opened his computer. After waiting for it to patiently load, he logged on into their chatroom.

_DarkMagician is logged in Outkasts Chatroom._

_MusicAddict: Yugi! You're here!_

_DarkMagician: Yup._

_Downright-Evil: How was tutoring session?_

_DarkMagician: …Ultimately uncomfortable._

_MusicAddict: Why? What happened?_

_DarkMagician: Kaiba and Yami are having a little skirmish, I believe. I'm kinda worried about Yami. He left so suddenly._

_Downright-Evil: You're too nice for your own good, Yugi-kun. I'm sure he's okay._

_MusicAddict: How about you, Malik? How was your date?_

_DarkMagician-evil grin- **date?**_

_Downright-Evil: WILL YOU TWO QUIT IT? There is NOTHING going on between ME and that JOCK! Besides, all we did was eat chocolate!_

_MusicAddict: We'll pretend to believe you…_

_DarkMagician: For now, anyway._

_Downright-Evil: If you keep this up, I'll write something REAAALLLYYY horrible in your epitaph!_

_DarkMagician: Like what, may I ask?_

_Downright-Evil: Like…_

_MusicAddict: At loss for words?_

_DarkMagician: Man, Marik must be affecting you more than we thought._

_Downright-Evil: Oh, shut up! Why don't you tell us about YOUR tete-a-tete with your beloved Jock? _

_MusicAddict: …Anyone's ever told you that Bakura Ryou just **SUCKS** in art?_

_DarkMagician: Not really. What happened?_

_MusicAddict: Granted, it wasn't as bad as my PAST encounters...the thing I enjoyed most about this afternoon was that he had everything I ever wanted. So he gave me all the supplies I needed…but when I asked him to show me what he could do_

_Downright-Evil: I don't wanna know._

_MusicAddict: Well, even if he sucked majorly at it, that didn't really stop him from trying to help. I guess he was trying to be nice…_

_Downright-Evil-evil, evil grin- Now whatever could that mean?_

_DarkMagician: Don't tell me our beloved Jock-hater is having a change of heart!_

_MusicAddict: AM NOT! I'm just saying he's gotten better! It's not like I've forgiven him COMPLETELY!_

_DarkMagician: Ahh, denial…_

_Downright-Evil-smirking innocently-_

_MusicAddict: Oh, don't make me kill you, Yugi, Malik…_

_DarkMagician-laughs- Whatever. Hey, since there are no classes tomorrow, wanna hang out at my place tomorrow for a sleepover? Then we could all go to school the day after!_

_Downright-Evil: Sounds like fun. I'll ask my evil sadist of a sister first, then I'll get back at you._

_MusicAddict: Ditto. Except for the fact that I don't have an evil sadist of a sister._

_DarkMagician: Ryou, you live alone in your apartment. Don't tell me you're with someone else. -wink-_

_MusicAddict: I think you both need two clean your minds and get them out of the gutter. Don't worry, I'll bring my soap mind cleaner tomorrow…Dad's gonna come back home for the end of the year. He says he wants me to come with him during the summer…as a vacation._

_Downright-Evil: Cool! I bet my sister's going to drag me to a million and half historical places in Japan…lesee, we've finished Tokyo, Kyoto, Okinawa…wherever shall we go to next?_

_DarkMagician: I take you never really enjoyed **those** vacations._

_MusicAddict: Maybe I can convince my dad to let you come along!_

_DarkMagician: Okay. Well, got to go now…see you tomorrow! _

VVV

After Malik left, Marik felt the coldness of the house returning. The Outkast certainly brightened things a lot more. He soon got bored, so he called Yami and Bakura. Coincidentally, they had just finished their time with their counterpart Outkast, so he invited them to have dinner at his house and to talk.

When Yami came inside the room several minutes later, his eyes were dark. Marik instantly knew something was wrong. Yami wasn't normally cranky. He was the most mild-mannered among them, and he bit back insults as much as possible. But when provoked, the tri-colored-haired boy was certainly frightening.

The two of them sat silently on the foot of his bed. Soon after, the albino made his appearance carrying a sleeping bag. Marik raised his eyebrow.

"I'm sleeping over," Bakura answered shortly. The blond boy understood. Bakura really hated his house. It was too cold, far colder than his own. And he was always happy to accommodate the other boy, because he himself was lonely in his own mansion. Bakura dropped his things on the floor, and sat next to them.

"Hey, Yami, did something happen?" Marik asked suddenly when the silence got too uncomfortable.

Yami's eyes flared. "That stupid CEO brat!" he said, balling his fists and punching the floor in his anger. "Stupid arrogant **_bastard_** who thinks _he_ can get whatever _he_ wants!"

"Calm down," Bakura said, rolling his eyes. "Is he still obsessing over you and Joey being partners? You know better than to let him get to you."

"I draw the line when he starts including _Yugi_ into this!" Yami cried out, pissed off. "What makes him think he can do that? I'm not bringing Joey into this! What's wrong with him? It's not like I'm interested in that guy! It's not like I'm interested in guys at all, for that matter!"

"The way you're acting, I wouldn't doubt it," Bakura teased. "Geez…you sound like a jealous boyfriend, Atemu."

Marik shot him a warning glare. "_Bakura_…quit **_it_**."

Yami folded his arms. "I don't want to talk about it anymore," he said darkly. "Everything that happened today…I'll just pretend it never happened."

Marik and Bakura exchanged glances, but didn't comment anymore.

"Well, since you two aren't planning on talking anytime soon, I'll just talk about what we did today," Marik spoke up after a few minutes' silence.

"What happened?" Yami asked curiously, deciding to do his resolution and forget everything that happened today. When Yami thought it over, he always expected Marik to be closest to his own counterpart. After all, they were hanging around with each other for no absolute reason. Yugi was with him because Yugi tutored him, and Bakura and Ryou were only civil to one another because they were project partners.

"I don't know about you, but Malik really makes me feel comfortable," Marik confessed, smirking. "He was actually really easy to get along with. He told me a little about himself, then we went and raided my enormous refrigerator of chocolates, and then we just…_talked_. It was really strange. As if the house was so…warm." Marik plopped onto his bed. "Even when you guys are here, the house is still cold, in a way. When he went here…it was as if everything seemed to brighten up."

"Yeah," Bakura said softly. "When that little Outkast went to my house…I had to admit…it didn't feel as bad as it used to. I even felt like smiling! He made a lot of random comments about how beautiful my house was…but you know it isn't," He added quietly. The two nodded understandingly, and Bakura continued. "He was also overjoyed at the fact that I have nearly every art-connected item in the house. And he wasn't evil and demented as normal…really strange."

"I guess you made him happy, then," Yami commented. "I've heard from a few friends of mine that Ryou lives alone."

"He does?" Marik said. "How strange. But his parents aren't rich? …I mean, it's understandable if you live alone and you're rich, like the three of us…but he seriously doesn't live with anyone?"

"Nope," Yami said, shaking his head.

"Poor guy," Marik sympathized. "I know Malik lives with his sister…I've been to their house before."

"Why?" Bakura asked, wanting to change the subject. He didn't want to talk about Ryou anymore. It made him feel ashamed of himself, and he didn't want to feel that way. He didn't know WHY he felt ashamed, but he wanted to stop feeling it all the same.

"Random reasons," Marik answered vaguely. "Not really important. But anyway, I'm just glad we got the opportunity to get closer them. They're really nice…just a little strange."

There was another lapse of conversation that passed as the three settled to their thoughts.

"I've always wondered…how did those three get into our school, anyway?" Bakura questioned. "I mean…it's a little expensive here, don't you think?"

The three of them got a sudden realization.

"…Maybe that's why they have to stay in the top three," Marik said uneasily. "Great, now I feel totally as if my conscience is going to kill me…"

"You're not the only one…" Yami said. "For all I know, I might be interfering with Yugi's studies! Now I feel so guilty." He glared at Bakura.

Bakura scowled. "Let's just forget that I ever brought that up, shall we?"

The three nodded, but weren't able to erase _that_ certain idea in their heads.

VVV

Finally, an update! I know you guys are ready to go and bury me right now...so so so sorry! I just got so obsessed with Get Backers and Fruits Basket lately...

I'm making a new GB story (BanGinji) Please read!

RR!


	8. Reversal of Destiny

Learning and Losing 

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Chapter Eight: Reversal of Destiny 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Hey guys!" Yugi greeted his friends cheerfully as they trooped inside his house. It was early in the morning, his grandfather had just left to work in their Game Shop, and he had the house all to himself. "Come on in, I made pancakes!"

"Yeah!" Ryou and Malik cheered. They immediately dropped their bags in the living room and rushed to the kitchen, and attacked the tray of pancakes with maple syrup relentlessly. Yugi watched with a twinge of amusement as his friends gobbled up the food he made.

"You make the best pancakes ever, do you know that?" Ryou said, in between stuffing pancakes in his mouth.

"Careful, Ryou, you might choke," Yugi warned as he poured out some milk for his friends. He handed one to Malik who mumbled a garbled 'mmnk mu' as he also ate pancakes at the speed of two per minute. "You too, Malik."

After his friends had finished stuffing their faces, Yugi ushered his friends to his room, where they all made themselves comfortable in the bed, giggling.

"Okay, so…what's up with you guys? I feel like we haven't seen each other for weeks!" Ryou commented. "It's like all we've got left is chatting."

"Well, we were supposed to hang out with one another for plenty of times, but something also comes up," Malik said absent-mindedly.

"Yeah. Like the time the two of you didn't show up for our meeting at the mall," Yugi reminded them.

His two friends quickly looked away and changed the subject.

"…Er, right…" Ryou was blushing as he looked around Yugi's room for a change of topic.

"You two never did get around to telling me what you were busy with," Yugi continued innocently, though there was a suspicious tone underneath it. "Care to tell?"

"What's to tell?" Malik said casually.

"Yeah, what indeed," Ryou echoed.

Yugi eyed them both suspiciously. "If you say so…" he stood up. "So…anybody got anything interesting to tell? Other than…well…the jocks we've been dealing with…" his voice trailed off at his realization that lately, most of his life had been revolving around a certain Yami Atemu.

There was a long pause.

"You're right…I think I'm spending more time dealing with that white-haired jock than seeing you guys nowadays," Ryou grumbled.

Their blonde friend coughed slowly. "So am I," Malik began slowly. "And…frankly…it's really scaring me."

His two friends turned to look at him, their first expression concern, then realization.

"Malik…hey…" Ryou's chocolate-colored eyes softened. "I…I don't know what to say."

Yugi bit his lip nervously. "You've been through this before, Malik. You have a tendency to trust someone, and…" he intentionally stopped his talking, afraid he might anger his fiery friend.

Instead of anger, Malik's expression showed sadness. "Yeah…I know, Yugi. And worse of all, I know he can't be trusted. We're hardly friends, so I don't know why I feel this way…I've been thinking of it all night. He just keeps popping in mind! And then…" he bit his lip.

All three boys knew that Malik was…well…_attracted _to guys. It was something he couldn't stop or anything. He had never told anyone except Yugi and Ryou, who were supportive, but also apprehensive. Especially since Malik had an unfortunate affair of the heart before. They never talked about this, though. They kept it among themselves.

Ryou stood up. "Hey, let's do something fun instead of staying inside this stuffy room all day!" he suggested with forced cheerfulness. "What do you think?"

"How about some ice cream?" Yugi added, knowing of his friend's love for the cold treat. "I'll even treat you guys to some!"

Malik smiled weakly and tried to join in his friends' cheer. "Yeah, let's go!" The three left Yugi's house and went to the nearest ice cream parlor. They had just bought their ice creams and were about to leave when, to their dismay, the three people whom were the last people they wanted to see. The two groups stopped short at seeing one another.

"Hey…" Yugi greeted softly at Yami and his friends. He actually wanted to talk to his taller lookalike over the recent happening at Kaiba's house. But he didn't want to look like he wanted to leave his friends.

Ryou quickly noticed that his smaller friend wanted to talk to Yami. And he also noticed that despite the extremely uncomfortable atmosphere Malik was radiating, he also wanted to be alone with Marik. With a heavy sigh, he turned to Bakura. "Hey, when do we continue our Art project again? It's not yet done," he began casually, moving a few steps away from the group and settling into a table.

Surprisingly, the other albino joined him in the table. Slowly, Yugi and Yami also drifted to a different table, and so did Marik and Malik. After a moment's silence, Ryou plowed on.

"So, when do you think we should—?"

"You live alone?"

The smaller boy was taken aback at Bakura's question. "Huh?"

"I asked, do you live alone?" he repeated.

"Why do you ask?" Ryou replied defensively. Why was he asking a stupid question like this? This…this jock…didn't need to know anything about his life. **Anything. **He was nothing but a stranger in his life. He didn't need to ask something like this. He didn't. He didn't!

Bakura shrugged. "Never mind."

The albino looked at him suspiciously, but decided not to question him anymore. Sometimes paranoia always got the worse of him. The panic he was feeling lifted, and he felt normal again.

"…we can continue it tomorrow, I guess," Bakura was rambling, and Ryou forced himself to listen. He didn't want to look like an idiot. "I have a badminton match later, so we can't do it today—"

"You play badminton?" Ryou was sufficiently surprised. He expected Bakura to be the soccer/basketball/football player, the one who were…well, jock-y. The one who played strenuous games and dangerous sports, who didn't even know how to play more interesting sports like badminton and tennis. In fact, badminton was the only sport that Ryou actually liked well enough to learn how to play, and he prided himself in being good in it.

"Uh…yeah," Bakura answered, raising his eyebrow. "Something the matter?"

"I…well, I just never expected you to play badminton," the words tumbled out of Ryou's mouth before he could stop them. He blushed. He knew he shouldn't be lump people into categories and expect them to be all the same, but…

Ryou looked away, now feeling embarrassed.

Bakura, for the life of him, couldn't understand why the smaller boy was avoiding his eye. Was it something he said? "Do you play badminton?"

"Yeah," Ryou replied softly. "Why?"

"Wanna play against me tomorrow?" he suggested. "After we finish the Art project, I mean."

"Okay, I guess…" Ryou bit his lip. Strangely, this conversation was spinning **_way_** out of his control. What was happening? This was completely unexpected!

He turned away, hoping for something to distract him, when something caught his eye. Yugi and Yami were talking casually, but he could feel that they were both uncomfortable about something.

"…I was really surprised when you disappeared yesterday," Yugi said, a little bit concerned. "Did something happen?"

_Yeah, I happen to plan how to slowly kill Seto Kaiba… _Yami forced a smile. "Nah, nothing happened. I just needed to get home."

"Oh…" Yugi nodded. He didn't need to pry on Yami's personal life. "So…uh…we were at algebra, weren't we?"

"Yeah, we were."

"When do you think we can continue with this?"

Yami sank into deep thought. No way was he bringing Yugi again to Seto's house—absolutely not. "Hey, Marik, are you—" he stopped himself in mid-call, when he realized that Marik and Malik were in a very deep conversation. Too deep, in fact.

"Oh no…" Yami heard Yugi sigh. Suddenly, Ryou was by their side.

"C'mon," the albino whispered to his friend, and Yugi nodded.

"Uh…let's just talk about this tomorrow, Yami," Yugi excused himself hastily, before the two boys went over to Marik and Malik, pulled the latter, and said hurried goodbyes.

"That was…strange," Bakura commented behind him. Yami turned to see the other albino watching the three Outkasts disappear from view.

"What happened, Marik?" Yami asked curiously as their blonde friend rejoined them.

Marik shook his head. "I don't know! It's like…everything was so different…" his voice trailed off. "Something's changed, I think."

It definitely had, for all of them. Destiny had just reversed her pathway. And none of them knew if it was for better or worse.

VVV

Yeah, I know, you all want to kill me for taking forever. See, I was wondering if I should continue with my trend of the story, or go on with the friendship thing or the shonen-ai thing. I ran it over all my friends, and they were all 'shonen-ai!' So I had to rewrite most of the chapters I had written.

Well, if you guys don't mind the shonen-ai approach…keep reading and reviewing!

Ja ne!


	9. Unwanted Affection

Learning and Losing 

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Chapter Nine: Unwanted Affection 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Ryou sighed as he sat on his chair the following morning, staring at his Chemistry book, trying to study for the test, but not really processing anything, because he was thinking of something else. He couldn't help but remember yesterday—more specifically, last night. After meeting up with the three Jocks, Malik had been quiet the entire day, but when they were going to sleep, the blonde burst into tears.

_"I don't understand anything anymore! I know I can't love him, I know I **shouldn't** love him…but I can't stop what I'm feeling!" _

The albino himself felt scared, frightened, distressed…seeing his normally confident, in-control and self-possessed friend breaking, **_crying_**, over a silly dumb Jock, was almost moroe than he could take.

I suppose you couldn't know pain if you didn't know pleasure…Malik had a taste of what it was to love someone, and that person had completely broken his trust. Now the blonde was so afraid to love again…yet he wanted it too…

Ryou sighed again. Of all the people, why did it have to be that Jock? The chocolate-eyed boy was quite certain that Marik would not be able to deal with Malik's attraction smoothly. He was even afraid that the Jock would hurt his friend.

_He's not that bad, _his mind reminded him. _Malik must have seen something nice in him to fall in love._

Ryou rolled his eyes. He wasn't holding his breath for THAT probability.

_And neither is your Jock, _the voice continued. _He's okay when you get used to him. And he's pretty hot. Most of the girls in school like him._

Were they still talking about the same person? Because Ryou could not imagine liking his Jock. No way. He felt himself shudder in horror at the thought.

_Wasn't he nice to you when you were doing the Art project?_

They were sooo not talking about the same person anymore.

He tried to distract himself from these annoying voices nagging him—goodness me, if that…thing…talking to him was his conscience, he would give up and ignore the evil thing—but, ironically, the first thing his eye fell to was a certain taller albino who looked too much like him. Damn.

More ironically, the only chair that was unoccupied was the one behind him, and the Jock sauntered up to him, offered a smirk (smile? No way…) then sat behind him. "Hey," he greeted softly.

Ryou was wondering if he should return the greeting or raise his eyebrow, when their Chemistry teacher entered the room. "All right, class, pop quiz time!" she announced cheerfully. A collective groan came from the class, and Ryou couldn't help but rolling his eyes. As if it _wasn't_ announced. For goodness sakes, they had already known a quiz was coming up, yet they didn't study!

The teacher ignored their complaints and started handing out the papers, and they began answering the test. It was silent as the students answered.

The class was already a few minutes into the test, when somebody knocked at the door. "Excuse me?" A tall senior was outside the door, and their teacher hurried to talk to her. Several students took the time to casually compare their answers with their neighbors.

Bakura stared with distaste at the students who were quietly comparing answers—more locally known as cheating. He may be stupid, but he had a great amount of pride in knowing he never stooped down to their level. He frowned at the test—he didn't know half the things in it, but he was pretty sure he could wing it. After a few minutes of guesswork, he looked up and saw the teacher was still not done talking to the student outside the classroom.

He looked in front of him; the little Outkast was seemingly absorbed in answering the test. Bakura smirked. Time for a little distraction. He tore a piece of paper from his notebook, scribbled something at it, and then crumpled it into a ball. Then he casually dropped it on top of the test paper his counterpart was writing on.

Ryou frowned as a crumpled piece of paper fell onto his test paper. What the—? He turned to look behind him, and Bakura winked at him. Figures. After stealing a glance to see if the teacher was not looking, he slowly unfolded the piece of paper and read the message.

_We're still meeting for the Art project today, right?_

He rolled his eyes. Geez, was the guy getting Alzheimer's disease or something? He had just told him _yesterday_ that they were meeting.

After scribbling down his reply (_Yes, we are, you nitwit) _and neatly folding it, he checked to see if the teacher wasn't watching, he turned around, and was about to drop it onto Bakura's desk, when the other boy took hold of his hand, fingering the letter.

Ryou felt the blood rush to his face at the warm hand pressing against his. He didn't know what to do…all he knew was he didn't want to let go. When Bakura slowly pulled away the letter from his hand, Ryou realized it would look extremely awkward if he held on and he pulled his hand away, blushing as he did so. He quickly turned his back on the Jock.

_What the HECK just happened! _He screamed into his mind. _That did NOT just happen, tell me it didn't happen…_

_Oh, it did, _his inner voice told him, a trace of amusement in his mind. _And I think you liked it, too._

Ryou mentally glared at the voice, and tried to concentrate at the test again. Stupid Jock, holding his hand like that! Stupid, stupid Jock!

VVV

After Chemistry class was over, Bakura, despite himself, found himself waiting outside the classroom for the Outkast. The kid was taking so long, even actually neatly placing his things in his bag. Normally Bakura just stuffed his things and walked off. He smirked. He remembered how neat the other boy's part of the locker had been, while his part was a complete mess. After all, they were locker partners.

Ryou finally got out of the room, and he was very surprised to see his idiot Jock counterpart waiting (WAITING!) for him. Ryou looked back at the classroom—was there anybody else there? Because there was no way Bakura could be waiting for him…

"Are you looking for something?" The taller boy asked.

…So the guy **was** waiting for him…Ryou tried to ignore the warm (happy?) feeling that passed through him. "No, not really. What are you doing here?'

"…Waiting for you?" Bakura answered, raising his eyebrow. Duh. Who did he think he was waiting for, the TEACHER?

"Oh…" in a few minutes, the two of them were walking toward their locker, in companionable silence. Ryou was in shock. Could he actually last in this guy's presence without wanting to kill him or kill himself?

This was unbelievable.

They eventually reached their locker, and Ryou hesitantly opened it. Was the guy actually acting polite today? He must have eaten something wrong today…he winced as he saw Bakura's side of the locker. It was a mess. One day he would have to clean it…or maybe he'd just ask for a new locker partner. He placed his books into the locker, then moved away to let Bakura put in his books.

"So…" Bakura started casually as he stuffed his things into the locker, "do you mind waiting for me after my soccer practice?"

Ryou raised his eyebrow. "Why should I?"

"Oh, c'mon! It's only an hour!" Bakura exclaimed. "Besides, I bet you could do something while waiting…reading, or whatever you do." He closed the locker with a loud bang, and Ryou couldn't help but cringe at the sound. "You can stay at the bleachers. You don't even have to watch the practice. Just wait for an hour. Then we can go to my house and finish it."

_Ooohh….finish what? _His mind asked suggestively.

Ryou found himself wondering if his brain had been replaced by aliens why he had been sleeping. It was definitely out of order.

He sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever." He could do this. It was only an hour. Only an hour…

"All right!" Bakura grinned at him, gave him a friendly punch at the shoulder, then left.

Ryou groaned. He was NOT going to like this.

VVV

So that was how Ryou found himself sitting on one of the bleachers, doing his English essay and trying to ignore the stupid soccer practice at the field. He kept checking his watch—and he was annoyed to find out there was more than half an hour left.

_You could watch the practice, you know, _his mind suggested. _Maybe time will go faster that way._

Yeah, right. Like he even ENJOYED soccer. He had been trying to get out of Physical Education classes since he entered high school, thank you very much.

_And you can probably see it better if you sit over there! _His mind mentally pointed. Ryou looked up; it was the other side of the soccer field, the one where there was a sidewalk. Ryou remembered walking there often.

…

That was also where he met Bakura.

"Stupid idiot, hitting me with a ball," he muttered, frowning at the memory. "Stupid, stupid Jock." That incident only happened a few weeks ago, didn't it? It felt like it had been forever since he met Bakura. His life just got turned completely upside-down.

"Bakura!" Out of instinct, Ryou looked up (it was his last name, you know!) and realized that, once again, it was not him they were calling.

_Funny, I think I'm getting the déjà vu._

Yeah, he remembered. Just before the idiot hit him with a ball, he heard Bakura getting called by his name, which was incidentally also his last name.

Ironic, this life.

Ryou turned to look at how the soccer practice was going on—his Jock, surprisingly, was pretty good at it. He was not muscular or large, like most soccer players, but more of lithe, yet still strong. He couldn't help but admire his figure as he went and passed the ball to his teammate. It was almost elegant, the way he played…

Elegant?

Ryou frowned and shook his head. Something was still wrong with his brain.

Note to self: Get a check-up.

VVV

"Okay, team! Practice is over!" Their coach announced, and Bakura felt extremely grateful that the soccer practice was over. Who knew if the little Outkast wanted to strangle and kill him now? He looked up at the bleachers; he felt a strange feeling of disappointment at seeing the brown-eyed boy absorbed with whatever he was writing. Oh well—what did he expect, that the kid would watch him play?

As his other teammates started making their way to the locker rooms, Bakura realized he had another problem. Uh-oh. Ryou probably wouldn't like to wait any longer. So he trudged up the bleachers to inform the other about his shower.

Ryou was oblivious to everything. He was lost in the world of pink fluffy bunnies and rainbow cake and afterlife cupcakes when he felt something warm next to his ear.

"Hey…" a warm, husky voice whispered into his ear.

He involuntarily shivered as he looked up; he found himself getting lost in Bakura's beautiful brown eyes. He was practically drowning in their depths…he smelled a faint scent of the Jock's sweat, mixed with a bit of cologne. It was almost overpowering to be so near him…

Ryou shook himself awake, blushing intensely. What the heck was he thinking? "W-what?" he asked, trying to force the anger into his voice, and feeling that he had failed miserably.

Bakura blinked. Was the Outkast blushing…? "Uh…I just wanted to tell you I have to go get a shower first. Do you mind meeting up with me at the front gate?"

"J-just get going with that s-shower already," he stammered, pushing Bakura away. "You're starting to smell, do you know that?"

The taller albino frowned. Gee…did he have the nose of a dog, or what? "Okay. See you later." So he gave him a friendly pat before heading for the locker room.

Ryou let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Bakura was gone. He didn't know how long he could stay in control with him around…

_What the hell is wrong with me!_

VVV

Ryou was patiently waiting outside the front gate of the school, when someone put an arm around his shoulder. He abruptly turned, lost balance, and nearly fell into Bakura's arms.

"You okay?" the other one asked worriedly.

Ryou, blushing, nodded and steadied himself. "I'm fine," he said pointedly, trying to stop himself from turning red every time Bakura was near him. "Where's your car?"

"Oh, I'm waiting for the limousine," Bakura explained.

Ryou raised his eyebrow. "Limousine?"

He nodded. A few minutes later, a sleek, black limo stopped in front of them. The driver stepped out and bowed to Bakura and Ryou. "Master Bakura." He raised his eyebrow at Ryou, and then returned to his master. "Home?"

Bakura nodded curtly at him, and the chauffeur opened the door for them. Bakura got in, and Ryou hesitantly followed.

The drive to Bakura's house—er, mansion—was uneventful and quiet, for the most part, except when Ryou asked his question.

"Don't you have your own car? Why didn't you use it?" Ryou asked curiously, remembering the incident in which the Jock had nearly run him over; their second meeting. Noticing Bakura's wince, he could tell that the other boy's thoughts were on the same memory as he was.

"Er…well, I kinda woke up late today, and so I ended up using the limousine, then…" as Bakura fumbled with excuses, Ryou merely flashbacked to everything that had happened between him and the Jock. It was almost unnerving; he had memories of Bakura _everywhere_. It didn't help that they were in the street where they had their second meeting. Argh!

Ryou shook his head. Stupid, stupid Jock!

Bakura just stared as Ryou mentally started arguing with himself again.

_Oh-kay…_

VVV

When they had gone into Bakura's room and Ryou got started on their Art project, Bakura had begun to get bored. The other boy had told him as bluntly as he could that he was not to touch anything, not to do anything, not to say anything, _nothing_. And doing nothing was boring.

He was afraid to say so, though, in fear that the Outkast would bite his head off. So he simply stared as Ryou painted. He had to admit, Ryou was very good at painting. He was also very cute when he wasn't scowling, or frowning—he just looked happy and contented, painting there.

Bakura frowned. What the heck was he thinking! That Outkast? Cute? He shook his head. _Something is wrong with me…_

Ryou turned to Bakura unexpectedly. "Can you hand me the blue paint?" he asked.

Bakura started. "Oh…uh…yeah…" he grabbed the paint, and handed it Ryou, who accidentally ended up spilling the paint into Bakura's shirt.

Ryou stared in horror. _Oh no! _"Ohmygosh, I am so sorry!" he cried, grabbing fistfuls of tissues and trying desperately to get the paint out of the shirt. The very _expensive_ shirt. Ryou was half-afraid of what exactly Bakura might make him do…hopefully not make him pay for it!

The other albino was in shock; from having paint spilled accidentally on his shirt, and having Ryou practically panicking all over it. Funny, when he dumped ice cream over his shirt before, he wasn't so panicked. Maybe because he was mad then, and also, because this was an accident. "You weren't like this when you dumped ice cream on me," he noted.

The Outkast flushed, stopping in the middle of cleaning Bakura's shirt. "I…uh…" he looked away, feeling embarrassed. He remembered that incident like it was yesterday; and he was so ashamed of himself to lose control of himself like that. Whenever he remembered it, he felt like throwing himself against a rock or something. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"It's okay," Bakura reassured him, when he noticed that Ryou was avoiding his gaze. "The paint will probably wash off." He stood up, and went to the bathroom. He took off his shirt, and grimaced at it. The blue paint was all over his Lacoste shirt. Oh well. He had dozens of these, anyway.

He returned to his room, where Ryou was cleaning up the other spilled paint on the floor. He looked up when Bakura's footsteps announced his return, and he quickly looked away.

_Wow…he's got a great body… _his inner voice noted mischievously.

_No he doesn't! _Ryou argued, as the felt his cheeks heat up.

_Yes, he does, _the voice countered. (AN: Rivaling Damien, don't you think? )

Ryou tried to ignore his inner voice along with the shirtless Bakura. _He could have at least put a shirt on! _He thought furiously, as he scrubbed the paint out of the floor vigorously.

"You don't have to do that," Bakura suddenly said, dropping down and taking hold of Ryou's hand, stopping his cleaning frenzy. "I'll just go and call the maid to clean that."

Ryou, meanwhile, was still frozen as Bakura held his hand. _Oh man oh man oh man…_

Bakura blinked. The other boy was looking very red. "Are you okay?"

Ryou nodded, still blushing, and pushed Bakura away. "It's…just a little hot…" he lied.

_Yeah! His body is on fire! _His mind said enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, the air conditioner isn't exactly working…" Bakura said, oblivious to the internal struggle going on in Ryou. "I'll go and get the maid. Wait here." And he left the room.

Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God he was gone. He wasn't sure how much of this he could take.

_Damn! What's happening to me?_

VVV

Okay, this is my apology for the super-long update. Long chapter, and lots of BR goodness. Yum yum…my fave pairing! I'll try to update at least once a month…I'm sorry for the long delay. Review!


	10. Rivalry

Learning and Losing 

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Chapter Ten: Rivalry 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Yugi was sitting alone on one of the benches in the school grounds overlooking the school garden. Ryou had something to do with Bakura, and Malik had not gone to school today. He said he was sick.

Truth be told, Yugi was starting to worry about his blonde friend. Ever since he had spoken of his feelings for a certain Jock…

"It's not like I don't trust him," Yugi mused out loud. "I'm just scared for Malik. I mean, this has already happened before and—"

"Uh, Yugi? Can I talk to you?" a voice interrupted him.

Yugi swiveled around to see a sheepish Joey. "Sorry…did I disturb you?"

The smaller boy shook his head and smiled. "Not at all, Joey. Is something the matter?" He gestured for his friend to sit beside him, and Joey did.

He took a deep breath. "See…I've got this problem," he began hesitantly, fidgeting. "There's this…_person_…who likes me."

"Really? That's great!" Yugi was genuinely happy for his friend. Funny, Joey didn't seem thrilled. "Who is she?" At this, Joey tensed.

"Um…she…ah…_she_ and I aren't the closest friends," Joey admitted, making nervous hand motions. "And I'm not really sure if _she_ likes me…she didn't exactly say it, but I've heard of it from some other people."

"So it's not confirmed if she likes you or not, right?" Yugi concluded.

Joey nodded. "Yeah."

"So what's the problem?"

"Well…I…I'm not sure if I like hi—_her_ back," Joey explained, blushing furiously. "Because, you see, we don't really…you know…" at this Joey smacked his forehead. "I sound like an idiot, don't I? I'm just going to stop talking. Sorry for bothering you, Yugi!" He turned to run and leave.

"Wait! Joey!" Yugi called after him, interested at what Joey had shared. The blonde turned to look at him, biting his lip.

"Yes?"

"You don't know if she likes you, right? So…why don't you try asking her?" Yugi suggested.

Joey shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"…She won't answer me."

"Are you sure of that?" Yugi challenged him. "Come on, Joey! You don't know how you feel about her, but in my opinion, I think you care for her, since you seem to be worrying about this."

He blanched. "I don't like hi—her!" he insisted.

"How do you know?"

"Be-because!" Joey shook his head furiously. "He's…arrogant and annoying and always thinks he's better than everyone else!"

Yugi blinked. "He?"

Joey blushed. "I-I meant…she! She!" And as suddenly as he appeared, Joey left.

Yugi blinked again.

Well…that was something strange.

He vaguely wondered exactly who was this girl who liked Joey, before returning to his other thoughts concerning his other friends.

He suddenly sneezed. He frowned. "That's strange…who could be thinking of me right now?"

VVV

Yami had already decided.

He was going to confront Seto.

He didn't want Yugi being involved in this petty argument, in any way possible. So he was going to tell Seto once and for all to leave Yugi alone.

He went up to the young CEO, who was typing something in his laptop. "Seto."

The dark-haired guy blatantly ignored him.

Yami gritted his teeth. "Seto," he said, a little louder.

Seto hardly blinked. He looked so engrossed with whatever he was doing, but Yami knew better. He was trying to annoy him.

Fighting the urge to punch the asshole, Yami clenched his fists and nearly shouted. "SETO KAIBA!"

The one he was calling turned to look up at him, bored expression written in his face. "Yes, Yami?" he asked mildly. "Is something the matter?"

"You know _exactly_ what's the matter," Yami hissed, eyes narrowed. "I'd prefer if you didn't play stupid, Seto."

"Oh, really." This time, Seto turned his chair to stare at Yami, with his undivided attention. His eyes bored into Yami's, and both looked at each other with such intensity that if looks could kill, one of them would be dead right now.

"Stay. Away. From. Yugi," Yami said slowly, trying to control his anger.

Seto raised his eyebrow. "And what if I refuse?"

"Then I'll twist your neck off and break every single bone in your body," Yami threatened viciously.

"Indeed." He stood up. "So I stay away from Motou-kun, huh?" He smirked. "And what if Motou-kun comes to _me_, instead?"

Yami bristled, and glared at him. "He won't."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes!" Yami snapped. "Now promise me you'll leave him alone, and I'll get out of here." Seto merely smirked at him.

The other boy so badly wanted to kill Seto right there and then. But he knew that Seto would keep his word—he did have some honor. Once Seto finally nodded in agreement, Yami turned to leave.

"And what…" Yami stopped as Seto spoke again, "…if I tell you that I have feelings for Motou-kun?"

Yami turned, anger bubbling up inside him. "You don't!"

"Really?" Seto was still smirking at him. "And how would you know?"

"Because you're just playing him! You're playing him because you're jealous of Joey!" Yami yelled, his patience finally snapping. There was absolutely no way Seto could like Yugi! And it's not like Yugi would like _him_ either—

"Am I?" Seto whispered, advancing dangerously on Yami. "Am I really, Yami? Is that what _you_ think?" Yami didn't reply. He just glared at him. "Well, if that's the case, I'll just have to prove you wrong then."

Seto turned around, gathered his things and started to leave the room.

"Seto!" Yami grabbed the CEO's wrist.

"I suggest you do other things with your time than threatening me, Yami," Seto said calmly, pulling his hand away. "And if you don't hurry, I just might take your precious little Yugi away from you." With that, Seto left Yami alone in the classroom.

Yami clenched his fists. "I'm not going to lose to you," he said quietly. "I'm definitely not going to lose Yugi to you, Seto."

VVV

Wai! Seto's evil side shows itself. I'm going to create conflict!

It's a little short, but the next chapter is gonna be longer—since it's Marik and Malik, after all.

And I am sooooooooooo sorry for the delay in updates. Our computer broke down during Holy Week and I was supposed to update then!Anyway, my sis got a laptop andI managed to update now. I really am sorry!

Btw, tomorrow-April 19 is my birthday! So this is kind of a birthday gift to myself! -grins-

Keep reading!


	11. Heartache

Learning and Losing 

Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...

Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**Chapter Eleven: Heartache **

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Malik?" His sister, Isis, knocked on the door to his bedroom. He had locked himself and had refused to go to school that day. "Are you done being depressed and unhappy?"

"Obviously not," was the muffled reply.

Isis sighed. Teenagers and their dramas. "Well, when you're done with your soap opera, tell me. I don't like the idea of you not going to school. I don't care what you're going through—you're a scholar, and if your grades start slipping, you'll have to move to another school. We can't pay for your tuition and—"

Malik tried to ignore the sound of his sister lecturing him for the nth time that day. Isis had been clearly alarmed by his actions. He had never done something this drastic before.

But he definitely didn't want to see Marik today. He didn't want to talk about it, either—for sure Ryou and Yugi would try to coax something out of him, and he wasn't in the mood to talk. He didn't even want to think about it.

_You can't avoid him forever, _a little voice inside him chided.

_Oh yeah? Watch me._

Malik buried himself deeper into his pillow. He didn't want to think about _anything_.

He knew that what he was doing was regrettable in the future. Heck, he was already regretting it now in the present. But right now wasn't the time to feel guilty about skiving off classes. He was having a problem of the heart, damn it, and he didn't want it to interfere with schoolwork. And since heart problems weren't exactly those that you could push aside and ignore forever, he had to push aside schoolwork for the day. He could catch up, anyway.

However, he had already wasted a day of pondering and nothing had come out of it. He couldn't afford to miss another day of school. He wasn't that type of person.

_But how can I face him?_

He groaned. That was the problem. He _couldn't_.

In the beginning, avoiding his Jock counterpart seemed like the right idea. In his book, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder, and he had been confident that whatever he was feeling for Marik was bound to disappear sooner or later.

Wrong.

After avoiding Marik and realizing that he _still_ liked him, Malik wasn't sure what to do next. Besides, staying away from school was a bad idea, because it did nothing but imprint the other on his mind. He was probably going insane from thinking of him. Nothing could take his attention away. He had even tried making computer animations that involved bloody deaths, and even that didn'

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to _do_. Everything was just so confusing.

But he couldn't come up with anything.

And until he did, he would just have to keep avoiding Marik.

VVV

"I think Malik is avoiding me," Marik said to Bakura. However, the albino didn't seem to be listening. Instead, he was staring at this painting in his room. Marik frowned. "Hey! Bakura! I'm talking to you!"

Bakura blinked, and then started. "Huh? What were you saying?"

"I said…" Marik fought the urge to slap his friend, "I said, I think Malik is avoiding me."

"Why would he?" Bakura frowned. "I thought the two of you were getting along well."

"We _were_," Marik emphasized, "but now everything's gone completely out of whack." He frowned. "We were fine a couple of days ago, when he came by my house. Then when we met up again at that ice cream place…he was talking but he wasn't really talking to _me_, like he was trying to make this thing in his mind go away." He gestured frantically with his hands. "He hasn't gone to school for two days and I'm worried. I tried to call him but he won't answer. And today he went to school, but he's avoiding me! I tried to talk to him—he actually ran away from me! I don't understand it. He's avoiding me and I don't know why! What did I do wrong?"

Bakura merely stared at him. "How should I know?" he said after a long pause.

Marik glared at him. "Thanks for all the help, Bakura." He looked at his watch. "Where's Yami? You said to get here at seven and it's already eight. I want to eat dinner already!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Marik, I think you're going crazy. You're being completely random and I'm not following you anymore."

"You're one to talk," Marik snapped. "Here I am telling you all my problems and all you can do is stare at stupid painting!"

The albino blushed. "The painting is not stupid!" he countered angrily.

"Oh really? And why isn't it?" Marik turned to scrutinize the object. Sure, it was a well-made one, but he couldn't see exactly what made it so special. "And why is it in your bedroom? I mean, what do you do, stare at it before you sleep?" he snickered.

Bakura glared at him. "Shut up!"

"Or maybe it's a gift," he mocked. "So who's the girl, Bakura? You've been keeping someone from us?"

Bakura turned redder. "There is NO girl!" he shouted.

"In denial, aren't we?"

"Like you aren't!" Bakura folded his arms. "I bet you did something horrible to your little Outkast," he said mockingly. "And you're just pretending that you didn't do it. That's why he's avoiding you."

Marik's eyes narrowed. "I did not," he said darkly. "Take that back."

"Take what back?" Bakura blinked innocently. "The truth, Ishtar? Why don't you think about it? Why would that genius avoid you for no reason? Obviously, you've done something wrong."

Marik glared at him. He had never wanted to hurt Bakura so much before. How could he say something like that? He hadn't done anything to Malik…or said anything…

Had he?

He bit his lip, mentally reviewing everything he had done the past few days. Nothing came up. He couldn't have done anything to make Malik hate him.

So why was he avoiding him?

VVV

"…Malik?" Yugi began hesitantly. The two of them were walking home. Ryou had music lessons, and it was just the two of them.

"Yeah, Yugi?"

"I don't think it's working," he said.

Malik stopped walking. "Huh?"

"You know…" Yugi bit his lip. "The whole avoiding thing. It isn't doing any good for the two of you except to cause a giant misunderstanding."

The blonde laughed hollowly. "Then what do you suggest? I tell him how I feel?"

"I didn't say that, I just…" Yugi groaned inwardly. "I was just hoping the two of you could make up already. Or at least you could pretend that nothing's wrong. I mean, something _is_ wrong, but it's the something that you don't have to make an issue about—"

"So it's not an issue if I'm potentially falling in love with him?" Malik snapped.

"Um, that's not what I meant—" Yugi began, but his friend cut him off.

"That's exactly what you meant," Malik said quietly. His voice was soft but it was firm. "Let's not talk about this anymore, Yugi. I'm going to avoid him. End of story." His eyes were started to well up. "This is my problem, not yours, and I'll solve it in my way. Okay?" Yugi nodded. "Thank you." And they continued walking in silence.

Once the two of them parted ways, Yugi sighed.

It had already been a week, and Malik was still adamant on ignoring his Jock as if he was this invisible entity. It was obvious to any blind idiot that Marik was getting frustrated and confused over how Malik was acting. Suddenly, the two of them were back to square one.

Maybe even negative square one. After all, the two of them didn't exactly hate each other back then…that was Ryou and Bakura.

Ironically, Ryou seemed to be getting on well with his Jock. At least, well enough as not to complain about him every second.

But Ryou was farthest from Yugi's worries. It was Malik and his continuous depression that got his concern. Even though his friend tried to laugh it off and pretend it was nothing, Yugi could see that Malik was hurting inside.

And he could do nothing to help him.

VVV

"You've been down in the dumps lately," Mai commented to Marik, who was mournfully staring at his melting ice cream sundae. "I know you're rich, Marik, but wasting money like this isn't good. This is food!"

Tea giggled. "Mai, you're not making him feel any better."

"Well, he's not cheering up anyway, isn't he?" Mai shook her head. "C'mon, Marik. Give us a smile. Why are you so depressed?"

Marik shook his head. "It's Malik."

The two exchanged confused glances. "Malik? The Outkast?" Tea asked, surprised.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!" Marik exclaimed, frustrated. "That's exactly it. I don't know what happened, but now he's avoiding me like the plague!"

"Want me to ask Serenity to talk to him?" Tea offered. "I mean, she's friends with them and all."

Marik shook his head. "No—I want to find out what I did wrong myself. And then I'll solve it myself." He clenched his fist. "I should talk to him."

Mai smirked. "Okay. Here's your chance—he's walking this way."

The blonde looked up to see that Mai was right; Malik was heading straight toward their direction. Unfortunately, when he saw Marik, the other blonde abruptly turned and ran. Marik felt utterly hopeless. Malik was really intent on avoiding him.

Tea blinked. "So he really _is_ avoiding you like the plague. I thought you were just overreacting."

"Shouldn't you go and confront him?" Mai asked.

"But I don't want to force him to tell me what's the problem…" Marik bit his lip.

Mai sighed. "Oh please, Marik. Delaying the inevitable is never a good thing. You should talk to him." Tea nodded in agreement.

"I will…" Marik hesitated, "tomorrow."

The brunette looked at him skeptically. "You better do it tomorrow. I don't want to see you moping around anymore."

"Okay! Okay! I'll do it tomorrow, promise!" Marik said, hoping that the determination in his voice would be there for him tomorrow.

Time to work up some courage for tomorrow.

Marik wasn't sure if he wanted to find out exactly what he had done to Malik to make the Outkast hate him so. What if it was something unforgivable? What if…?

_Must…think…positive…thoughts…_

VVV

Malik stared at his iPod. It stared back, with the Apple screen repeated blinking.

He groaned. "Now even my electronics are going stupid," he muttered angrily, trying to find a way to fix his iPod. But nothing happened; it was either frozen or it had gone completely haywire. And for the life of him, Malik didn't know why—he hadn't let it touch water, he hadn't thrown it, he hadn't done _anything_. But it wasn't responding, just showing the blinking Apple screen.

"Screw you, Apple!" he screamed in frustration after doing everything he possibly could to fix it in vain. "Damn you, iPods! Are you also plotting my misery? Is there a giant conspiracy out there to get me?" He threw the iPod at the door.

Unfortunately, the door opened the exact same moment Malik had thrown it. "Ouch!"

"Sis!" Malik clapped a hand to his mouth. "Oops…sorry."

Isis took the thing that had hit her squarely in the forehead. She frowned. "Since when did iPods fly?"

"Since my life got ruined," Malik replied.

"Uh-oh." Isis shook her head. "Please don't tell me you're going through your teenage angsts again. I mean, you just had one last week. As much as I want to play psychologist, teenagers are much too melodramatic to even be something worth of a study."

Malik scowled. "I am not going through teenage angsts. Those are only for lesser human beings who have no better way of controlling their emotions."

"Right." Isis nodded, rolling her eyes. "And iPods fly."

"The damn thing wasn't working!" he yelled, pointing at the miserable thing. "It refused to work! Look at it, Isis—it's gone completely stupid!"

"Just like your brain," his sister added sagely. "We'll go get it fixed. As for now, try not to do anything moronic. Teenagers tend to do that."

He folded his arms. "Don't you dare compare me to those people!"

"Above the whole food chain now, aren't we?" Isis smirked. "Well, you may be smarter, but you're still a teenager. This must be because you never had fits of drama back then…now you're having a teenage angst every other week! I hope you get it out of your system soon!" and she waved goodbye, laughing.

He was _not_ going through teenage angsts.

He wasn't.

Malik scowled. His sister was wrong. He was not being dramatic.

He bit his lip, and buried his face into his pillow. _Tomorrow…_

_I'll talk to him tomorrow._

His talk with Yugi made him realize a few things he'd rather not realize. He knew his course of action was not working, and he wasn't making anyone happy. That was why…he had to solve it himself.

VVV

Classes were finally over, and Marik decided to finally find his Outkast and talk to him. Luckily, he spotted Malik walking in his direction. Marik took a deep breath, crossing his fingers that the other wouldn't walk away. "Hey," he called out softly. The other boy tensed slightly, before walking up to him in resignation.

"We need to talk," Malik said, avoiding his gaze.

"Yeah," he agreed, noting the other's expression with concern. "But not here." So they walked in uncomfortable silence to the school garden. The lovers always frequented this place during class hours, but nobody stayed there after school. They could have privacy there.

The two of them settled in a bench. Malik was not saying anything, so Marik decided to speak up first. "Are you mad at me?"

Malik looked away. "…No," he mumbled.

"So why are you avoiding me?"

"I—" he bit his lip. "I can't explain. It's hard. I've been thinking…about a lot of things. And I don't know what to do."

"Can't I help?" Marik said hopefully.

"You can't."

Marik's expression fell. "Oh." He tried not to feel a little hurt. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Malik asked softly, still adamantly avoiding Marik's gaze.

"Well, I must have done something to make you hate me…" he said sadly.

"I don't hate you," Malik suddenly interrupted, biting his lip. _I love you._ "It's just…complicated."

"Please explain," Marik pleaded. "I want to understand."

He shook his head. "You don't. You don't want to understand." _I don't want to understand myself…_he closed his eyes, wishing this was just a horrible nightmare and he was going to wake up soon and everything was going to be alright.

He felt someone's hand take his own. He opened his eyes to see Marik clasping it gently. "I don't want to force you if you don't want to be friends," he said quietly. "But I just want to tell you…that I really like you." His heart jumped, and he willed it to stop beating so fast. "You're a great person, and I really want to get to know you better. Give me a chance. I'm not so bad."

Malik laughed despite the cold that suddenly took hold of him at the other's words. He just wants to be friends. Just friends, and nothing more. He had been so stupid. "I can't."

"Why not?"

Malik shook his head, feeling frustrated. "Why can't you just give up?"

The other grinned helplessly. "I'm very persistent. Sorry." There was silence. "If you want, I'll go away and leave you alone. But I just wanted to know…if I did something wrong, and if I can do anything to make it right again."

"It's not your fault."

Marik still held his hand. "Are you sure?"

"I—" God, it hurt so much. Being so near him and yet being nothing. Malik could feel the tears threatening to fall. "I can't just be friends with you."

He frowned. "Why—"

"I'm really sorry." Malik stood up. "I have to go."

And he walked away.

VVV

Okay, so this took forever. I know. But I'm not into the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom anymore. In fact, I've completely lost interest.

That doesn't mean I'm leaving this fic unfinished. I'll try to tie up the story with my original plan for it, but don't expect my updates to be quick, and the writing might be a little choppy, like this chapter. I'm really sorry, especially to all my readers.

Don't lose hope, though. Something just might spark my interest. And I might rewrite this someday. But for now, it'll be the sad thing it is now.


End file.
